Night's Shadows
by Zaidita
Summary: One night was all it took for Bella's life to change forever. It was the night that Bella last saw her brother, and her. Fourteen years later, her family name tarnished, Bella has two options: to marry or to find out what really happened to her brother.
1. Fallen Warrior

**Disclaimer**: We promise to admit that Twilight does not belong to us and that Bella and Edward belong to Stephenie Meyer. We also thank her for sharing!

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**Prologue: Fallen Warrior**

~*~

The darkness clung to day, the moving silhouette only visible as the figure passed the arched passageways, his lithe body moving in long strides. He moved quickly, the pitch-blackness not affecting him as he maneuvered the labyrinth. To him, he could see as clearly, as if daylight illuminated this place instead of the blackness that deepened it. He never slowed, as he moved, going faster as a deep colored cloak flowed out behind him like a living shadow.

Noises attracted his attention, his head fleetingly glancing back at the passageway he had just left. He never paused, aware that he was being followed, but seemingly unbothered by that fact. His speed would out match anything that was still chasing him, down in these deeper levels. Normal human eyes would have been useless in the pits he raced through, a world of shadows, one he was trying to escape from now. Those same human eyes would have never have been able to see in the darkness, or register the fast movements of the monsters that hunted anything that got in their way.

He continued running, searching for the tiny diamond of light that he knew would be coming. His eyes flickered forward and back, up and down, watching the ageing floor beneath him, watching how it crumbled with little effort or pressure. If he wanted, he could go faster so that the stones remained untouched, but he needed to keep his pace slower, so that he could focus on those who pursued him. Focus on their private, innermost beliefs and desires. Their thoughts.

He smirked in satisfaction as the strings of curses passed through his mind in quick succession, as if they were his own. The vampire who hunted him now, within these darkened catacombs, cursed the speck of bronze hair he could see fleeing the room before him, but could not reach. A smirk appeared on the hunted's face. Ahead of him, he caught the faint murmur of thoughts, but as he closed the distance things became clearer.

He shifted that burlap bag that weighed thirty pounds and two ounces to his left shoulder, although he knew exactly how much it weighted, it felt lighter than a feather to him. He slowed his pace, still making no noise, and at the last second found the burst of speed he had been holding onto, as the second vampire lunged from within the shadows.

He missed Edward, not even grazing tails of the cloak that trailed along behind him, but he did manage to smack right into one of the many pillars that stretched upward in the darkness. Edward glanced back, a smirk of satisfaction once again crossing his face as a new vampire cursed his very existence. He watched as the pillar crumbled beneath the strength of the vampire, cracking and falling while bringing with it part of the stone roof and dirt.

Edward sped up once more, reaching a new speed he had never reached before, new thoughts crowding his head as he left his first pursuers behind. The thoughts clouded around his noisy mind like a thick fog as he struggled to focus on only the important ones. It didn't take him long to locate the nearest vampire; he was beginning to understand his ability and capacities fully now, using his skill to his advantage. Thoughts caught, he looked up.

As his eyes grazed the remaining passageway, he saw it; the dim light he had been searching for that night. It outlined the small creases in the twenty-foot door as the thick cloud of thoughts emitted from behind him. He slowed, the cursing thoughts of the vampires still trailing along far behind. He pulled the door open in one swift, fast motion, pulling the black robes off his body, only to throw them onto the dirt floor. In the next second, he was out the door, closing it securely behind him.

Only a few faces turned to catch the brief moment and Edward carefully scanned their thoughts as he pulled a second bag from a hidden crevice, a few feet from the doorway. He tugged out a long coat and pulled his slim arms into place, pulling the hood over his bronze hair, making sure to hide every strand of hair. Faces turned away whenever his golden eyes caught their ruby ones, their thoughts questioning the meaning behind the coloring of them, the darkness burning within them, fear pushing at them to keep moving.

Edward relaxed his muscles, pushing himself into the fast-paced crowd, leaving the catacombs behind forever, he hoped. He shifted the bag once more to a new shoulder out of mere convenience rather than comfort. The bag applied no more pressure than his thin layer of clothes. The vampires around him talked in hurried conversation that to mere humans would be inaudible and unrecognizable. No wonder he had always believed they could not speak. They walked in a slow pace for vampires, and even that would have been close to a blur for regular humans. They glanced at the "street" venders on either side - if you could call this a street.

Above him he could hear the rushing of water from the sewers and higher above that, the distinct hammering of human footsteps upon their pavement. He listened as the door groaned with the heavy thrusting from the vampires. He realized the one who should have been guarding this door was the very one who had taken a pillar down only moments ago.

Edward matched his pace with a female vampire at his side, safely surrounded by a large crowd of thirty-three vampires. He listened to the vampire's thoughts from behind him, watching as they scanned each passing vampire with curses. They spotted another vampire heading the opposite direction carrying a similar bag, and began to chase after him.

Edward smiled in relief as the thoughts from the vampire beside him pricked his mind like a small pin through the stabbing of a hundred. She was taking in his features and was thinking . . . hopefully, lustfully. She was hoping he would _notice_ her, the way she had been _hoping_ a male would notice her for _so_ long. He glanced to the large black eyes that flashed under the glare of a light they were passing. Light here was not a necessity, but a luxury. A life of darkness was tiring, but light gave them some color to please their eyes. The light flooded through thousands of tiny holes only big enough for a small finger that linked their underground world to that of the humans above.

Edward turned to simply glance at her, and look away, uninterested. It was enough for him to kill the hope she had been watching with, and she turned her affections to another unsuspecting male. Even though he himself was a vampire, he was still amazed when he heard thoughts like this from vampires.

He pulled himself away from the crowd now, passing a few unfamiliar faces. All faces here were unfamiliar. The underground stretched as far and wide as the cities above and were as deep as they were tall. Vampires were roamers, it was in their nature, and it was what kept them out of human eyes and trouble with _them._

He slunk into the corner, out of the sight of vampire eyes, but still within range to listen to their thoughts. He waited only a few moments before it was safe again, and began to climb the small ladder. On this deep level he was in, humans would have grown exhausted before they ever reached the top, if they even managed that, but he completed the climb in a matter of minutes. He pulled himself upward into the closest level to the humans, directly below the sewers.

Here he saw little faces, but he scanned every nearing thought. He could hear from the distress of one female that around the corner two vampires in robes were searching for someone like him, but, luckily, they too had had turned the opposite direction. This was as easy as Alice had told him it would be . . . but that was years ago. He shifted the bag once more, just for something to distract himself with.

He found the next ladder that lead into the streets and awaited in silence until the street above left no eyes to see him. They would not search for him there. In a few moments, he had reached the surface, void of public life, and made his way into the shadows of the alley. He ignored the curious human thoughts as he walked at the painful slow human pace to arrive at his apartment. It was the only thing he paid for regularly. A slice of his human life.

From below, the shouts of children at someone reached his ears over the sirens of a patrol car. From above him, heavy footsteps fell in pace with the cries of a small child. In his mind, things were much louder. He pulled the shades over the already closed blinds, before turning the music on to drown out the pursuing thoughts of others.

With a heavy sigh, he sat down with a pull of sudden anxiety. He had been waiting for years for this moment, living only for this time. A moment that Alice had told him would come, years and years ago. He pulled the bag forward, thoughts of how his heart would be pounding loud enough for humans to hear, were he still alive with a pulse. He didn't dwell on thoughts of his human life long, for fear that the guilt that came with those thoughts would drown him. He had something to do and he planned to fulfill it so that he wouldn't curse the world to his presence a second longer than necessary.

He reached forward, an alabaster hand curling around the beads that shone brightly in the dim room. No light bounced from them; they shone on there own, in different colors that varied whenever you tilted them a different way. Edward pulled them closer, entranced by the lights, before throwing them across the room when a pair of eyes stared back at him. If he were alive, his heart would have stopped, the excitement and stress cutting it off forever.

Carefully and curiously, Edward moved closer to the necklace that was now attached to his stereo system. He reached out, tangling up the necklace in his fingers, before leaning forward to read the golden spiked lettering that danced around the edges, trailing downwards towards the floor. His eyes picked out each word clearly, although some were fading with age and use, having spent millennia around their creator's neck. Edward flashed through the inscription once, before deciding it needed to be said aloud, for understanding to fully dawn on him.

"Reflected in eyes of burning blue and molten gold," he began, his velvet voice ringing around the room. It seemed as if life outside stopped, as the words reverberated, the children suddenly quiet, the cars no longer screaming. Even the thoughts of the people above him dimmed and became a low buzz, as if their minds had gone blank at the words. "Is the woman who will bring forth the light, to drive away the Shadows of the Night."

Edward paused, trying to decipher the hidden meaning, before moving the necklace around so it spin in fast circles. He moved to the next sentence, his voice trembling as he carried on reading. "She is marked with eyes of blue and eyes of green ... " He paused again, looking for the next part of the prophecy, only to find that there were no more beads, no more orbs, no more words. It was broken.

He threw the beads on the ground, listening as they bounced with a pure and simple ping. The day's noises began to fill his head again, overwhelming him. Today would not end, just as yesterday had not ended for him, as tomorrow would not end for him. He sighed with resignation, his own thoughts drowning out alien ones, as he attempted to work out the prophecy's riddle.

"Eyes of blue . . . and eyes of green . . . " he repeated the final words aloud and, suddenly, sickening realization dawned upon him. His hands clenched into tight fists as the truth bit into his mind, his heart.

He didn't hesitate for long, standing up quickly, moving so fast he was a blur again. He picked up his discarded bag and began filling it with what little possessions he needed. He knew where he must go, who he must see.

He knew now who they were after.

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Authors' Notes:

**ZM**: Hey guys so here it is, the sequel : ) I would like to welcome all fans of the original "**A CURE FOR A TRAGEDY**", and all new readers. I do suggest reading "**A CURE**" along with "**NIGHT'S SHADOWS**", but it is not necessary, you just won't get the full effect otherwise. I will be co-writing this with **LinkkinParkk**. No major changes, just basically what I was doing before with "**A CURE**", except she has a more involved role with this story. Thanks everyone, for taking the time to read, and please review. This is just a prologue, short and sweet, but its a good one ; )

**LP**: Hey! Okay, this is weird for me, being on the other side of the Author's Note, but really exciting! Anyway, I would like to thank all old readers for coming along and carrying on this journey and welcome new readers who clicked on the title because it looked exciting! Me and **zm4u** were emailing each other ideas and I can tell you that this sequel will be explosive! I cannot wait to get to the good stuff, so I'll shut up now, and go work on the first chapter. Enjoy!


	2. Afflicted Elegance

**1: Afflicted Elegance**

~*~

**October 723**

It was like coming home, after a long time away, he thought, watching as the countryside gave way to more civilized roads. Except this wasn't _his _home. Sure, he had family and friends within the walls, but he had lived somewhere else, had lived a different life. But that, was a different story.

He half closed his eyes as regret and pain collapsed over him. Memories burned him more so than the venom that had changed him. Memories danced through his veins, just out of his reach, because if he were to touch them, they would hurt him, burn him. He didn't want to remember, but he didn't want to forget. So he was stuck at a crossroads, wondering what his mother and father thought, wondering what his brother thought, wondering about how things might have been. Might have been, had he not fallen.

Before his mind could go too far into that memory, a noise startled him, driving his instincts into frenzy. Edward crouched low, his eyes alert for any threat or movement. The noise rose through the air again, a gurgling sound, low and throaty and Edward's eyes found the source: a blackened figure was bent over something, its arms moving up and down in an arching motion. He recognized it at once, for what it was, even though it had been years since he had last seen one. The diseased vampire was so focused on its prey that it didn't hear Edward move silently up behind him, feel Edward's hands grip his warm arms, didn't even stop him when he threw him backwards.

The scent of blood hit Edward like a humid summer's morning, hot and relentless. He turned to find the human the vampire had been snacking on and recoiled in horror. Snacking didn't seemed to be the right word to use, for the vampire hadn't been drinking her blood, but eating her flesh. The woman before him whimpered as she tried to stop the blood from soaking her gray shirt, her hands aimlessly pressing down on her wound but even that wasn't enough. The wound was too big, too open and each time she brushed her hand against it, she let out a small sob. Her muddy brown eyes looked up at Edward and widened in shock and horror. Edward couldn't read the look until her thoughts settled on one: _Guardian_. She recognized him.

Edward couldn't dwell on the young woman for long, because the vampire was back on its feet and hurtling towards him. Edward let out a feral snarl as he sidestepped the first assault, not expecting, or hearing, the second, which landed on the small of his back. Edward stumbled forward, twisting in the air as he fell so that he landed in a crouch facing the vampire. As he stood, Edward probed the male vampire's mind, but he found no coherent thoughts, only hunger and blood lust. The disease was making him human, but he still had vampire venom burning through his veins and that was making him animalistic. He was neither creature, but a mad hybrid, driven by an intense hunger he could never sate. Edward had seen this before, had destroyed most of the diseased vampires, the Volturi finishing the rest. The disease had mostly died out, but there were still the odd inflicted vampires hunting unsuspecting humans or, rarely, other vampires.

Edward's thoughts were chased from his mind as the feral vampire charged him again, no strategy to his attack, just a desire to get rid of potential competition and threats. Edward expected the move, seeing it in the vampire's mind. He moved by an inch, giving him room to grab the vampire's arm and snap it back. It always pained Edward when he killed a diseased vampire, because they were sometimes more human in form, it all just depended on the timing, and this time Edward was very late. Soon the disease would be finishing the vampire off itself. He flinched as the male's arm broke, the sound reverberating around the secluded road. The male vampire made a howling sound like a wounded animal, holding his limp arm carefully, his reddish-brown eyes staring at Edward accusingly. Gold eyes met red for a long time, before the feral vampire decided this fight was lost and turned to run. Edward couldn't let that happen, couldn't give it the chance to spread it however this cursed disease spread.

One flash and Edward was beside the vampire, his cold hands around his neck. One twist and the man fell limply to the floor, crumpling like paper. Edward rolled the man over, checking his vitals, careful not to look the man in the eyes, and watching as he bled from his wounded arm. Edward's hand searched in the pocket of his long coat, and he pulled out a lighter, still watching the man carefully. There had been several cases where a 'dead' vampire had gotten up when Edward had turned his back. Edward had learnt to burn the corpse, to make sure. He flicked his wrist and an amber flame licked up in the sky. Gasoline in one hand, light in the other, Edward tipped them both closer to the dead man, stepping back quickly as the flame took and the amber brightened into an angry orange, the flames stronger than the dark night that soon would be drawing in fast.

Another whimper broke through the silent night and Edward remembered the dying woman. He turned to her, picking out her broken frame as she attempted to crawl away from him. Edward instantly realized the problem, without invading her mind. She was scared of him.

He ran lightly to her side, putting out a cool hand to stop her from moving. Her eyes trembled and she bit her lip, drawing blood. Edward tried his hardest to smile to her, to reassure her, but it had been so long since he smiled. He wasn't sure if it would work.

"Save me," her voice surprised him. He hadn't been expecting her to speak. She brought her hands up to his shirt and gripped it, surprisingly tightly for a dying woman. "Please … help me."

"I can't," Edward's voice was bitter. He hadn't been able to save her and he knew that. He had been trying so hard, ever since being changed, to save people. It was his form of redemption. Maybe if he saved enough people, he would redeem himself for all that he had done and then he could leave this world, this Hell. He knew it was foolish, and that he couldn't save everyone, but that didn't stop him from trying. "Your wound is too deep. You've lost so much blood," he could smell it, was choking on it, drowning in it and he was using his restraint to stop from drinking her blood. He didn't want to add the rest, add that perhaps she had been infected with the same disease. Her living was a risk he could not take, but she would die like all the others who had crossed the mad vampires. They never left enough behind for a human to live.

"But you're a … Guardian … " she sobbed, her voice cracking under the strain. Edward felt the wave of fear he had been holding back earlier, crash over him. She had recognized him, even as a vampire. Would others' recognize him on his way into the city? He would have to hide his distinctive hair, hide who he really was. Especially when he found her …

"I'm sorry I can't save you," remorse edged his words. "But ... I can make the pain go away."

She fell back, resigned, all the energy she'd had fading into the night like the smoke billowing behind them. She nodded to him and Edward saw a deep beauty hidden in the plain features of the girl. She would have been married, had children, had a life, if it weren't for that vampire. Edward shook his head, pity raging through his veins, calming the anger. He reached out to her and she closed her eyes as he twisted her head, the same way he had killed the vampire. He didn't let her fall, resting her back against the ground. The sorrow at what he had just done, at what he had had to do, clawing a hole into his dead heart, reminding him that even though it didn't work, it still hurt.

He didn't leave for a long time, debating over what he should do with her body. Eventually, he flicked his lighter on, letting the gasoline burn her up. It would be better for her family to not know what happened, because that gave hope. Hope was the only thing that kept people going sometimes. He had learned that lesson himself.

Edward pulled his hood up, letting his coat fall back like a dark shadow. His eyes dimmed as he watched the young girl become part of the earth. He hadn't been able to save her. But he wasn't going to let anyone else die.

He was going to end this.

~*~

Unfamiliar streets fell away in front of him, leading one way or another, twisting to the edges of the city, backing onto themselves to lead into the centre. It was frustratingly slow going for Edward, as he shifted his bag to his other shoulder in time to keep it from hitting into another by passer. Black clouds hugged close to the ground, purple tinges around the edges hinting at the storm that was to come. The wind danced around the humans, sending their scents at Edward, but only one interested him. One he had memorized the last time he had been here, in the city. Thoughts crashed down upon him as he suddenly caught it again. He turned, rushing towards a more open square, fighting against the stream of people who pushed against him. His eyes scanned the area and he resisted the urge to blur past human speeds.

The scent grew stronger, floral and sweet, as he moved closer and closer to the market square. Edward started shifting through the thoughts of those nearest him, trying to get a glimpse of her face or, maybe, her thoughts. When only a few elderly people stood in his way, he quickened his pace, his hood falling back, before coming to an abrupt stop. She was there, in front of him, and his frozen heart thawed at the innocence that awaited him.

Her eyes caught his attention first. His golden eyes fell upon hers, their bright colors piercing through the mundane gray of the clouded sky, sparkling amongst the dull black of the business suits that walked on the street. They were the same wide, curious eyes that he had fallen in love with thirteen years ago, the same eyes most people fell in love with when they gazed upon them. The left eye was dazzlingly bright, topical water-blue. The right eye differed, a piercing and vibrant green, somehow greener than the rare trees that grew within the city. Both eyes bore the same curves as the ones in his memories, only more elongated with time and life and maturity. They were set within the same porcelain face, delicate silk stretched across glass, and perhaps just as fragile as when he had first met her as a small child and still just as beautiful, only now this was a different kind of beauty. Fresh and pure, it radiated from within, along with the same frustrating silence that had always enveloped her.

Edward paused, trying to probe this strange silence that clouded her mind, oppressing from even this small distance. It was like a tunnel, a tunnel of vexing silence that engulfed him even amongst the avalanche of thoughts that he let in as he opened his mind wide, in an attempt to hear her thoughts.

Nothing.

It was not a surprise; he had spent many nights outside the sleeping child's window attempting to listen to her dreams, but they had never come to him. At the time, he had blamed it on inexperience, but now he could see it was anything but that. It was her doing, not his own and he only wished to know how she kept him out of her mind, when no one else ever had.

It was frustrating, because he wished for nothing more than to be able to read her mind now, more than he had wished to hear anyone's mind, but face confused him the most, and that bothered him. Before he had had this gift of hearing minds, he could always read people. He always had seemed able to understand their hidden motives, but from her he could neither hear her thoughts, or read her face. He couldn't read her, not like the many people who shoved past them both, whose facial expressions he could read, even without the aid of his gift. She was different. Her stance was different and the way she watched, was different. She stared, watching something that only her silent mind could see playing out before her. While she watched, almost unaware of the people that pushed past, her eyes began to blur from unshed tears. It was the most heart-wrenching thing he had ever seen; an angel preparing to cry and he was unsure if he would be able to take the water that now welled, amplifying the bright colors of her eyes. Her face twisted into a pained expression, if only for a moment, one that pained Edward to see on something so lovely. Something so _innocent_.

The crowd pushed more violently passed him as the low rumble of thunder began to echo across the square. His angel did nothing, didn't even flinch, instead looking to the sky with closed eyes. Her pain seemed to melt from her face, as the first kiss of falling water slid down her cheek, tracing her shoulder, rolling along the pale skin of her bare arms. With that first raindrop, that first droplet of water, her pain ebbed away, all the threatening tears stopping before they fell. He watched, his last breath frozen in his chest, as a peaceful look settled on her tiny features, her eyes opening to greet the remaining rain as they raced down around her outstretched arms. She smiled.

It was a small smile, but it showed so much. It _said_ so much, and it only grew with each drop of rain, each splatter of water that embraced her flesh. It pulled her delicate lips upward from their soft corners, and he memorized the curving pattern, the way it flowed naturally at something others would frown upon. The smile smoothed the painful lines that had creased beneath her enchanting eyes moments before, easing her soft features, all as her smile settled into euphoria. It was like a breath of fresh air, and he wished harder, to know what she was thinking, to know why she smiled with such bliss as the rain mixed with her mahogany curls and sent the crowds running for safe, dry haven or opening the umbrellas.

It was only the two of them, her back to him now as she stretched her arms out further so the rain covered more of her body. A sea of umbrellas bobbed behind him, but he hardly noticed, watching as she spun in a gently slow circle, her long midnight blue dress flowing around her legs, skimming the pools of water that formed at her feet. Her hair was curling and sticking to her head as the rain seeped through but she didn't seem to care, letting her body shiver in delightful tremors that matched the beat of each drop of rain that fell onto her skin. He watched, unaware that his own bronze hair was a dark black, unaware that his long coat was shimmering with droplets of rain as lightning flashed overhead in irregular bursts. It was only the two of them and he only saw her.

She bent to the ground, pulling her knees to her chest as the water fell harder and he lurched forward as he heard a sudden sound, almost like a cry. But he stopped himself as he realized he had heard her laugh, a small giggle as she let her fingers trail in the pools of water. Oh, what he would give now to hear those hidden thoughts that pleased her so! People stopped passing him as more and more humans hid within buildings and houses, the rushing sound of their thoughts dying as another crack of thunder mingled with her laugh. And then she was on her feet, spinning, stopping, looking at him.

Her eyes widened, bright green, dazzling blue. Bella.

And he ran.

He ran, and he didn't look back, even as her swift eyes followed his movement until she could neither see him, or him her.

~*~

He had run. Had run for much longer than necessary, and he didn't know why. She had seen him before and yet, he didn't feel worthy of her gaze. She had grown into an elegant beautiful creature and he was nothing more than a monster, someone who had fallen. He didn't want her to fall too. He wanted her to be safe. And he was going to make it his personal duty to keep her safe. Alice had warned him, told him to look out for her, and he would. This would be his final redemption.

He sighed angrily, watching the last of the rain fade away as the early morning sunlight shafted through the separating clouds. The light hit his bare hands, causing them to shimmer and glitter. He stared at the way his entwined fingers danced in the light, before pulling his gloves out and slipping them on. He was a dark angel, he had to be hidden away. He clenched his fist, the leather straining against the muscles in his hands as he fought to quash the self-pity that had risen up in his chest. He wasn't worthy of any pity, let alone self-pity. He had brought this on himself.

Edward sat back, replaying that first meeting, that first sight, again in his head. She had been upset, but then the rain had made her smile. He couldn't understand that, couldn't understand how something like rain could make her smile. He smiled unconsciously, remembering the way she had danced under the rain in an unmoving circle. He had run and now he knew why. It was because she was old enough to understand what he was, and he was ashamed. He knew she would hate him, she was raised to hate creatures like him, like he had been raised, and he couldn't take the hit, couldn't take _her_ hating him. He wanted to claim her and that wasn't fair.

The sun fought hard against the clouds as it rose up in the east, breaking through holes in the cloud formation as it did so. Edward watched for a while, before a familiar voice broke through his quiet mind. He twisted, surprised, expecting to see the person who had spoken behind him, before realizing he had heard her _thoughts_ as opposed to her voice. He followed the sound, curious to see her, to see how she was doing.

Her thoughts were annoyed and angry, something Edward had come to expect of her, but not something he expected to hear now. Edward sped up, racing through an alley, before jumping on one wall, pushing off it and onto the other, climbing his way up onto the roof. He wasn't going to make the same mistake twice in twenty-four hours. He wasn't going to let anyone see him.

He settled on the edge of the roof, hidden from the view of two young women. He recognized both at once: Rosalie and Bella. Bella was stood in a defensive stance as Rose sighed in irritation. Edward chuckled to himself as Bella flushed a deep red, her hands twisting together, clasping and unclasping. Rose was the same, still long legs and long blond hair that waved together perfectly. Her face was still the same flawless canvas that God had painted flawless eyes and lips upon to match. Even in her training clothes, Rose was still fashionable. Yes, she had not changed, as he had expected, even though she was older. He spotted the ring on her finger, even from this distance, and his heart ached for her husband, his brother. Was he the same as well?

"Bella, what did I tell you about defensive stances? If you stand like that, I can easily move behind you and trip you. Vampires move faster than that," Rose said in annoyance. She ran a hand through her blond hair, before pulling out a hair-band to pull it away from her face. "There's only one way you'll learn," she said and Edward saw what she was planning in her mind. He let out a growl and Bella turned slowly, her eyes immediately falling upon his hiding place.

She looked up at exactly the same time that Rose jumped. Edward resisted the urge to defend her, his fingers curling around the wall that edged the roof. Bella realized she was under attack as Rose reached her, her shoulder pushing into Bella's side. Bella fell, but caught herself in time, moving in a sweeping motion. She moved beautifully through the air, but her feet betrayed her, causing her to trip.

As Bella tripped, Rose jumped. Bella managed to slip out of harm's way, regaining her footing as Rose sailed through the spot she had just been standing. Bella smiled lightly as Rose landed in a muddy puddle, the smile sliding from her face as Rose turned, her eyes narrowed in anger. Bella pulled out a small, metal stick, bracing herself for another attack.

Rose ran this time, deciding that jumping was too obvious and Bella stood her ground, her stick in front of her. Edward knew Rose's method of fighting too well, that metal would not last long, even if she were taking it "easy" on Bella for now. Rose raised a fist, aiming for Bella's chest. Bella swiftly moved her hands, weaving in and around Rose's arm, knocking it away so that Rose overbalanced and Bella was able to push her away with one end of her stick. Rose stumbled this time, winded, as Bella ran forward, pushing the stick down into the ground at Rose's feet.

She rose into the air and Edward's breath caught in his chest. Her battle robe flowed behind her and she twisted, falling directly onto Rose so that she fell backwards. Bella kept her balance, landing in a crouch over Rose, her weapon directed at her throat. Rose looked up shocked, as Bella stepped backwards, her eyes searching every shadow and alleyway. What was she looking for; Rose's thoughts mimicked Edward's own.

Rose was on her feet in seconds, attacking Bella while she was distracted. Bella turned, surprised, and slipped on a puddle, treading on the edge of her robe as she fell, managing to dodge Rose's attack. But Rose was ready for Bella's fluke dodge and was attacking Bella with her fists. Bella threw her stick aside, blocking every blow with her hands, arms, wrists, stepping back and back, until she was pressed against a wall. Rose made to grab her, but Bella ducked, running to her weapon. She turned, in time to swing it around in a low arc, the stick contacting with Rose's legs, knocking them from under her.

"You cheated," Bella said in surprise, her eyes focused on Rose. "You didn't follow the rules of conduct in a hand-to-hand battle," she added, childishly.

"Vampires don't follow rules Bella," Rose replied smugly. "You have to finish the fight, or they'll finish you. Understand? And get your footwork in order. I don't know how many times you managed to trip or fall then, but it won't do you any good in a real fight! . . . Bella?"

Rose stood up, trying to get Bella's attention. Bella was gazing at the alleyway, her eyes distant and far away. Rose nudged her and she jumped, stumbling a little. Rose caught her elbow, steadying her.

"Bella, are you alright? You seem a little distracted today," Rose said softly, the sympathy evident in her tone, it was something that he was not use to hearing there. Bella's frame tightened, her arms crossing her chest.

"I'm fine Rose. I don't need your sympathy, I need your support," Bella's voice was cold, which surprised Edward, having expected these tones to be switched between the two. He searched Rose's mind for a solution.

"It's just, tomorrow's a big day and you look a little worried," Rose continued, ignoring Bella's previous tone, and ignoring what tomorrow actually would be, focusing instead on Bella's eyes and searching there for the answer. Edward realized that would be the only face to truly see.

"I'm not worried about that," Bella said, distracted again. "I just thought I saw someone I once knew, an old friend. I thought I saw him here, but I guess I was wrong," her voice drifted off sadly and Rose wondered just who Bella had seen.

"Bella," she began, but Bella shrugged her hand off, a smile of innocence spreading across her face.

"I'm fine," she replied, trying to move away, before tangling her legs up in her robe again. She fell forward, her hands outstretched to break her fall. Rose moved to catch her, but Bella hit the floor, her hand grazing the broken stones. "Ouch," she said, cupping her hand. "It's bleeding."

"Bella," this time Rose was disproving, bending down to tend to her cousin's wound. "You manage to cut yourself easily for a Guardian, you know?"

Edward smelt the sweet blood at the same time as he heard the hiss of another vampire. Although the blood was not appetizing in any form, it was still blood to the starving vampire whose hiss echoed through the dawning morning. His golden eyes looked across the square to the roof opposite, meeting with a pair of red that were about to drop off the roof.

He would protect Bella.

From a distance.

* * *

Author's Notes:

**ZM**: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, I will not be adding them to the bottom of the chapter so I can update sooner, but I WILL BE RESPONDING PERSONALLY so be expecting a message from me if you added/reviewed my story soon. Also, here is a piece of CHOCOLATE for everyone who guessed that the prophecy was about Bella, cause you are right!! But do you guys get what it means ; ) lol. Thanks to **LinkkinParkk** for the wonderful chapter and hard work, I would love to hear your reviews, what you think about their meeting, about him not being able to hear her thoughts, about Rose, just your thoughts in general. Thanks : )

**LP**: Hey, glad to see you're still with us on this story. I hope this chapter divulges a little more information to you, in terms of how much time has passed and how Bella is doing now. Anyway, I would like to thank all the Jalice fans for coming over to this Edward/Bella fest and thank those who just love the world that's been created! Let us know what you think is going on, because readers and their reviews have better insight into stories than the authors themselves, and your ideas often help us overcome writer's block! Oh, and give a big, girlfan squeal for the release of **New Moon** too!


	3. Devia Angelus

**2: Devia Angelus**

~*~

"Jasper," she said the name aloud to remind herself that he was real. "Brother. Give me strength."

She clutched the photo album closely to her chest as she tried to calm her breath, her fingers trailing along the new leather binding. Her large heart was beating harder and faster than normal, which was three times the speed of normal humans. She sighed, letting the photo album fall back into place upon her lap. From behind the glossy plastic, piercing green eyes stared up at her, stared straight through her. She slowly traced the outlines of his face, a face she had come to memorize, even if she only saw it in her dreams. Jasper's face. Her brother's face.

She flipped the page for the hundredth time since she had been given the gift this morning. A gift from Rosalie and Emmett for today, for whatever she decided. This picture album of Jasper, of her brother, was quickly becoming her rock and she couldn't tear her eyes away from it, remembering. The album, all the pictures inside, they all gave her strength. She had decided, and now her heart was making its own feelings of anxious, nervousness known by beating much faster than necessary.

She let out a sad sigh as the next picture caught her eye. This time, it was not green eyes stared up at her, but golden eyes. Golden eyes amongst a sea of black hair set in a china white face. Alice. She hurried past the page, desperate to beat back the agonizing pain that came with that angelic face, but the book seemed to have other plans. On the next page, both sets of eyes stared up at her, but one set was different. Jasper's green eyes were looking down affectionately at the set of blue eyes, which were watching a small girl on the floor. Jasper was watching Alice. Alice was watching Bella. And her seven-year-old self had one of both, one green eye like Jasper, and one blue eye like Alice's ever changing one.

She flipped the page again, not wishing to think of the day that picture was taken, or the days that seemed to drag on endlessly afterward. The days without them. The next picture was her favorite, as heartbreaking as it was. This picture was a picture that summed up their love as it truly were. It did not try and build it up with pictures of kisses or of hugs. They were standing within the shade of a weeping willow, the low, green leaves dancing around them with the wind. Alice's hand was resting on her chest, over her heart, as she gazed lovingly into Jasper's face. He was returning the gaze with a smile, the only picture with color she had of him smiling. Making it all the more beautiful.

"I miss you both," Bella whispered to the frozen images that did not respond, would never respond.

In the background of the picture she noticed Rose watching the person taking the picture, Emmett she was sure. She began to flip pages again. This time clippings that had no color, only shades of black, grays, and whites. They were newspaper clippings that had been saved and collected by Rosalie and her family. Most were of Jasper and Alice, a popular topic, as they grew more public. In these pictures though, there were always Rose and Emmett, and even through these frozen images she could feel the love and friendship that had formed between the four.

She paused on the last page, a picture of Jasper laughing at something that Alice must have said, holding her tiny hand and leading her through a staring crowd. Trailing behind, and laughing as well, was Rose with Emmett's bear like arm wrapped around her shoulders. Bella smiled a real smile.

The next page was empty, as was the next, and the next, and the rest after. She closed the book, crossing the room to sit it upon her dresser. She would have to thank Rose and Emmett over and over again at the party, for the album really meant something to her. She sighed and as she sat the book down, a corner of gray poked out from among the many pages. Bella paused, opening the book to replace the picture to its rightful place, before her heart caught painfully in her chest. She hadn't been prepared for the face that stared back up at her.

She froze as she gazed into the same face she had believed she had seen yesterday within the rain. It was the same face, only . . . different. His features were less angular in the picture and the face she had seen as a child, but they were still perfect. His eyes were grayed within the black ink, and his hair was darker, but still as ruffled and messy as she had seen it today. He looked happier, at ease, as he gazed lazily at the camera, a crooked smile framing his face.

She picked the picture up, eagerly searching the lines around the face for an answer, an answer she had been longing for ever since she had first seen the young man as a child. Her heart beat spiked as she found it, found the name she had so strongly believed it to be, even though no-one had ever been able to tell her if she were right. The name shone brightly up at her from below the smiling face. Edward Cullen. The same man she had met as a child that fateful night. The same man who had stood behind her on the street yesterday. There was no denying it, and now her heart beat faster for a different reason.

"There you are," Bella jumped as her quiet thoughts were interrupted by an over-excited voice. She quickly returned the grayed photo back into the book, turning to see the stern face she had been expecting, staring back at her. "Bella, I've been looking all over for you! It is almost time and you're not even ready."

"I'm sorry Tanya," Bella clasped her hands behind her back awkwardly in her chagrin, as Tanya crossed the room in only a few strides with her long, tan legs that were exposed by her very short, pink dress. "I was distracted."

Tanya said nothing, grabbing Bella's wrist gently and dragging her out of the room, but her expression softened with understanding and sympathy, before she sighed. "I was hoping for more time to get you ready, but I guess we will just have to work with the time we've got. Good thing I have everything out and ready in _my_ room," the older woman winked at Bella, knowing her reaction before it came.

"Tanya, do we have to do this?" Bella was whining now, sounding like a seven-year-old, but didn't care. "You know - "

"I won't over do it this time and I promise to keep it simple, just as you like," Tanya rolled her eyes as she entered the room and sat Bella down before the mirror. Bella grimaced, a small pout forming as she folded her arms across the chest. Tanya laughed, ruffling Bella's hair affectionately.

She began to brush through the mahogany waves, pulling back the top section to pin it back so Bella could not hide behind the curtains of her hair. Bella sighed at how well Tanya seemed to know her, a sigh that went unnoticed as Tanya continued her chatter. "Oh Bella, I am so excited. Tonight is such a big night! And there are all these handsome men out there, from really exotic places, and I am feeling lucky. I really think I am going to meet that special someone tonight."

"You say that at every party," Bella teased her, her frown melting away as Tanya ran her fingers through her hair, sweeping it back, twisting it so it sat on top of head loosely with a few strands framing her face. "Then you meet the "perfect" guy, everything's happy, you're having a great time . . . and then you dump him the following week."

"Hey, that's no way to talk to your older sister," Tanya spun the chair around so Bella was facing her, catching her cheek in her hand where a brush powdered with color awaited. Bella fake coughed as Tanya flicked the blusher across her pale cheeks, highlighting Bella's natural rose complexion.

"Sisters have to tell each other the truth," Bella continued, her lips pulling up into a smile as Tanya attempted to paint on a clear gloss. Tanya frowned, her perfect expression creasing slightly, before she threw the lip-gloss aside.

"Close your eyes," Tanya demanded instead, ignoring Bella's new protests as she began brushing on the eye shadow. "You don't want to look like a clown Bella, so hold still. We may be sisters, but I won't stop you walking in to that crowd looking like a china doll painted by a blind man."

In truth, Tanya was only Bella's cousin and Rose's little sister, but to Bella, she was like her sister and had been there to support her though the heartache of losing Jasper. She had moved into Hale's household the year that she had turned twenty-one, a year after Jasper's . . . disappearance. Tanya had always looked out for Bella's best interest, always was at her side, in the same way that Bella imagined that Jasper would be, were he here. She stopped her train of thought before she ruined her make-up, perfecting her smile as Tanya finished putting away her playthings.

"Well," Tanya said pulling back and examining Bella closely. "I guess this will have to do. You look fabulous enough! You can thank me later, but we have to move. Let's go!"

She was pulling Bella up and out again, dragging her to the stairs and towards the party room. She only slowed down once they had reached the double doors, where she rested her hands on the younger girl's shoulders. "Here we are. Nervous?" Tanya's gaze was familiar and knowing.

"A little," Bella said honestly, looking up at Tanya from under her eyelashes. "But I'll be alright."

Tanya smiled, turning to the nearest mirror and running her hands through her strawberry, blond hair and staring at herself in the same way that Rose did. Bella turned away and stared at the two doors in front of her. From behind the doors, she could hear the low hum of music playing, mixing in with the steady buzzing of voices. It was thirteen years ago that Jasper had stood here. Had he been nervous when he arrived at these doors? Had he even paused to consider his feelings? Or had he been cool and calm, ready to greet the expectant crowds? Bella tried to get inside her brother's head, tried to think in the way he would, but she couldn't quite get there. It was like trying to remember the details of a dream after waking: you could remember some but you could never get them exactly right. But Jasper shouldn't be a like a dream, Bella thought angrily, I should be able to remember him. If things had been different . . .

If things had been different, she would have been waiting on the other side of the doors. This party would have been to celebrate something else. To celebrate someone else. No tears, she chastised herself, no tears. Jasper would have been cooled and collected, but alert. He was always alert. Always a soldier. She had to be one now, just like him.

"Alright, here we go," Tanya winked, bouncing over to Bella's side. "Can't wait to see their faces when you tell them your decision."

She opened the door as Bella looked up slowly, a rehearsed smile resting on her face, before she stepped through the doors. As she stepped into the room, applause began to ripple through the room, mixed with the cheers of congratulations. Bella smiled, glancing from smiling face to smiling face in confusion, but no one seemed to notice. Congratulations? For what? She had yet to tell her decision to anybody, even Tanya.

"Thank you," she told a small woman who had stepped forward to hug her and whisper her congratulations.

"Bella," she heard her name and turned to see who had spoken, her eyes falling on the comforting face almost immediately. She calmed as she focused on him and him alone, letting the crowd's babble wash over her.

Rushing to her, his head bobbing above the crowd, was Garrett. His long, sandy blond hair was pulled back with a leather band; it seemed his mother had still not convinced him to cut it, and he had stubble across his chin. He wore a dark tuxedo, like the rest of the men, but his was adorned with his family emblem and he had ripped his sleeves to expose his long, lean arms. When he reached her, he pulled her close into a hug, so that he could lean in to whisper to her, "What is going on?"

She pulled back to stare into his boyish features, his pearl gray eyes burning with curiosity. Bella was even more confused by his words than by those of the crowds, noticing how the crowd noise had increased when Garrett had reached her. "I'm not sure."

"Come on, our parents are waiting for us," he placed his hand on the small of her back, which was a stretch for him being so much taller.

She allowed him to lead her to the table where her family sat, their back to the eastern wall that was nothing more than glass. Her mother rose to meet them. Her face unchanged by time, as all Guardians who lived much longer than normal humans did. Her caramel hair was pulled back by a crystal clip, making her piercing green eyes more alive than before.

"Welcome daughter," she said wrapping her arms around her. "Come sit between your father and me."

Bella exchanged one last worried glance with Garrett, before being lead to the chair between her mother and her father. Once she sat, her father turned his blue eyes to smile at her, his blond hair combed back, but he said nothing, other than a simple "excuse me" to stand and leave.

Bella watched as Garrett eyed his own mother suspiciously, as he sat down beside her and across from Bella. He exchanged one more confused look with Bella, before he turned to face his own mother who was bustling with excitement, an unusual feat, since his mother was usually proper and drab.

"Why are you looking so smug?" he asked the tiny woman.

How she produced such a tall man was beyond Bella, even if his father at his side was just as tall, if not taller. Her eyes were also gray, the same as Garrett's, and they flicked between her son and Bella, a smile spreading across her thin lips, pulling her taunt cheeks tighter. Her husband rested a hand across her knee, affectionately telling her to calm down.

"Paranoid aren't we," she retorted with a gleeful giggle, her eyes resting on Bella a minute longer. Garrett opened his mouth as if to say something more, but she turned away and began talking to her husband, her shoulder turned so that Garrett was shut her. He snapped his mouth shut, irritation showing briefly, before he controlled it.

Instead, Garrett exchanged a glance with Bella that seemed to say exactly what she was thinking, "_She is giggling. I know something bad is up now!"_

"Here we go Bella," Carlisle's voice redirected their attention and they both looked to Carlisle. Bella gasped as she saw her father's arms, and the two servers behind him. They were full of glittering boxes and packages of varying sizes and widths. Her eyes grazed the top of the pile, wondering why she had received so many gifts.

"What is all this?" Bella was now thoroughly confused. Her father just smiled softly, before settling back in his own seat.

Rose's and Emmett's present had been odd enough, but now presents from the entire family and guest! She exchanged one more glance with Garrett, who shrugged his shoulders, looking to Carlisle for answers, as he was not getting them anywhere else. Bella reached out to run her finger across a silver bow, letting the curls entwine around it.

"Bella," her mother whispered softly at her side. "This one is from Jacob. He said he is sorry he could not come, he had very important matters to attend to in his estate, but he sends you all his love and this gift."

She handed her a small box, one of russet brown with a golden ribbon and Bella felt a sudden wave of sadness at not seeing Jacob. Growing up, she had always admired him, and he had always made her laugh. Her favorite thing was to wrap herself around his leg and let him walk with her seated on his foot. This thought brought a real smile to her face, as she carefully removed the paper from the box.

It was simple, just the way she liked things. A bracelet made of brown leather with two russet brown beads and one hand carved wolf that was made of a stone that shimmered, shifting colors whenever it caught in the light. Beneath the bracelet, in the bottom of the box, was a letter.

_Bella,_

_I love you no matter what you decide tonight. I will always be with you and here for you._

_Jacob_

She left the letter in the box; she would put it in her new scrapbook later, and immediately began to put on the self-made bracelet when another box caught her eye. It was hardly any bigger than the one Jacob had given her, but much more elegant and faded. Almost as if it had been waiting for her for a long time. Its wrapping paper was a shimmering sky blue tied together with one, vibrant green ribbon with many, many bows glued together to make one large elegant bow. Alice.

She wasn't sure how, but she knew, it had to be Alice. It looked like something that Alice would do. She reached for the small box, ignoring the piles of others and turned it over. No name. Alice. It had to be Alice. Her heart began to race as she reached to pull the ribbon.

The room went quiet around her, almost as if they sensed the tension of that moment as she began to open Alice's gift, but then she realized it was not her, they were silent for. She looked up to see her father, also untouched with the hand of time and looking more like her peer than her father, standing in front of the crowd.

"I would like to personally thank you on behalf of the William's family and the Hale's for being here today," he began looking around at the expectant faces and the subject table.

Bella did as well. She saw Tanya first, sitting between an empty chair and Rose, looking somewhat sullen as her mother fanned over the small boy that sat in Rose's lap. The empty chair must have meant their younger brother had been too busy with the estate to come, which meant their father as well. The boy in Rosalie's lap was only five with curly dark hair, just like his proud father, who stood behind Rose's seat protectively. She looked to see no one from the Northern Quadrant, Jacob's land, but she did see many unfamiliar faces, business owners, cousins, new Guardians. Rose caught her eye and picked the small boy's hand up, to wave at her. Bella blew her favorite "nephew" a kiss. His name was Jasper. Jasper Edward Cullen.

Two names that touched her heart.

"Today is a big day, a day when two families will unite to become one," her father continued, and Bella's head snapped up from the unopened and now forgotten box. "A proud day for both the Hales and the Williams."

Bella's eyes grew wide as she turned to stare into the face of Garrett. Garrett Williams. The boyish shock would have been enough to make her laugh, if she had not been quickly putting the clues together. If had not been her who was a part of this.

"Today I would like to announce the royal engagement of my daughter, Isabella Marie Hale, to the young and proud Garrett Williams," applause erupted around the hall and Bella found herself falling backwards, falling into her own horror and shock. The noise seemed to dim and be far away, her eyes widening, but all the while, she smiled, smiled, as a tirade of thoughts cascaded into her mind. Women dabbed at their eyes, nodded in her direction and she smiled, her eyes sweeping the room, her heart tightening in her chest as possibilities and consequences dawned on her.

She pulled herself back into the present, trying to listen to what her father was saying, trying to see Garrett's reaction. Carlisle's voice was getting louder with each word as the crowd began to clap happily. "Son, daughter, please come and take your first dance." She blinked, trying to find some energy, somewhere, in order to push her chair back.

Her smile never faded from her face, never wavered, never slipped, even as she struggled to comprehend what had just happened. Even as she stood, her chair almost falling back, even as she gazed down at the crowd curiously. Her hands curled at her side loosely and then she felt a hand on her elbow.

"Bells, move," a voice whispered, shocking her back into her own mind.

Garrett.

She allowed him to guide her past the seats and take her hand, before leading her onto the dance floor, under the expectant eyes of all the guests. He wrapped his arm around her waist tightly, the other hand clasped in his, as they waited for the music to begin. The clapping began to die down and then the first strings rose across the quiet room and they were moving in time, Bella firmly guided by Garrett's more experienced hand.

"Why are you smiling?" Garrett whispered as he began to circle within the music. "I thought - "

"Would you prefer I make a scene?" Bella said harshly through the smile, her eyes glinting with hurt tears she was trying hard not to shed. Garrett saw the perfected mask on her face, the smile that fooled thousands whenever it was worn. He sighed for a moment, before smiling back.

"It would be better than _dancing_," he said with a smirk, giving her hand a playful squeeze, twirling her elegantly in a tight lock so she wouldn't tumble to the floor."Maybe a little hysteria, or a slap across the cheek?"

"Garrett," she groaned, still a smile on her face, but her eyes less hardened. "Did you know about this?"

He put on mock feelings of hurt and spun her a little harder, causing her to almost trip over her feet, but he was expecting this and caught her wrist at the last minute, turning the fall into another graceful twirl. "No, but I did expect it when I woke up to the evil cackling of my _mother_. Just think of all the plans she has laid out for us."

"What do we do Garrett?" she tilted her head as far back as possible to stare into his eyes, her own beseeching his, letting him see her true panicked feelings. He paused for a moment, seriously considering her and he saw her resolve in her eyes.

Other couples were joining in now as they circled around the floor, coming to dance alongside both her parents. Esme smiled in joy as Carlisle danced near Garrett and Bella, calling to them, "The wedding will be in one month. Don't worry Bells, I will try and reign your mother in."

One month.

One _month_.

Hardly any time at all.

"Excuse me," Bella stopped moving and pulled away from her partner gently, spreading her smile even wider. "I'll be right back."

She kept her steps even and normal as she passed the happy partiers, the pleased smile always upon her face as she nodded to each of them, until she had left the party room through the same double doors she had entered. From there, she burst into a run, a short run to her left, through the kitchen, and into the outside garden. The fresh air did not help as she had planned, but instead burned her hot lungs with its thorny chill.

A month. She would marry in a month!

She felt the weight of the news crashing upon her, and she wrapped her arms around the beam pole nearest her for support. She tried to push the thoughts from her mind, pushing back the emotions that arose with it. Tried to catch her breath, watching as it turned to icy wisps that danced in front of her face. She wouldn't let her emotions get the better of her. Instead, she focused on the thudding footsteps. Kitchen . . . doorway . . . outside passageway . . . garden.

"Bella?"

"I never told them," she said childishly to the pole she was holding onto, not wanting to look behind her. She tightened her grip, knowing that if she let go, she would fall.

"Told them what," Garrett said softly, slowly walking to her. She felt him standing close behind her, the heat radiating off his body like the lost sun, hidden behind the horizon.

"That I chose to be a Guardian," she continued talking to the pole that was her rock for the moment. "Tonight I was supposed to announce it, to tell everyone of my decision. _My_ decision," she said a little louder, defying all that had happened, if only in volume.

"I know," he sighed from closer now, placing his hand on her shoulder. Her breath hitched at the comforting touch that she felt she didn't deserve. Why had this happened?

"Why didn't you say something?" she twirled around, letting go of the pole only to glower at him, her voice still serene. "I thought we discussed this. I thought you wanted to become a Guardian, not take over father's politics and marry!"

"I do want to be a Guardian," he grimaced. "You know that, we already talked about this, but . . . I thought maybe you had changed your mind. I thought maybe you decided this was the best way and I didn't want to cause a scene until I talked to you. Your family can't take another hit like that . . ."

She turned away from him, her arms crossed tightly, face sullen. "You know, if Jasper were still here . . . we would be celebrating his birthday tonight . . . this wouldn't even be an issue. I wouldn't have to marry anyone. Everything would be fine."

Garrett said nothing, but instead wrapped his arms around her. They fit around her shoulders perfectly, covering the bare skin with his hot skin, hotter than even hers. He sighed, placing his chin upon her hair. "Your father knew you couldn't say no. That you _wouldn't_ say no. He knew you wouldn't cause a scandal, to add to all the others. It's just in your _nature_ Bells."

"Yeah," she rolled her eyes. "He's smart like that . . . He knows me too well."

"But you want to become the Guardian of the city, right," Garrett whispered, his breath twining into hers.

"Yes."

"And not get married."

She hesitated, afraid of what her answer would mean, how it might affect Garrett. "Do you?"

"Bella," he laughed, turning her around to face him. "It's me, Garrett! Do you really think I want to be tied to one place, to one person?!"

"Of course not," she sighed, not hiding her relief. She knew he would make a wonderful Guardian.

"Don't worry about anything Bella. I will take care of everything," his smirk grew into a wicked smile and she knew what was coming. She reached out to move a lock of his hair from his face, her worry for him overriding everything else in that moment, in that time.

"You are going to make a scene?"

"Yeah," he laughed, his eyes creasing with a rebellious joy. "I think that is my right, as a Guardian."

Bella smiled softly; Garrett _would_ find this situation amusing, find something in it to turn into fun. But that was why Bella adored him and looked up to him; he wasn't afraid to tell people how he felt and fight for what he believed in. Sometimes she believed that was _his_ true gift, as a Guardian. Her brother's had been fire, but Garrett's was just himself. Inner strength. She wanted to be strong in that way. And she wanted to show him that she was behind him on this decision.

She threw her arms around him, thankful that of all the people her father had chosen for her, it was him. He wrapped his arms around her, burying his head into her hair, and said, "You know . . . it would be gross to marry you. You are like my sister."

"Well, you weren't very brotherly that time you tripped me over a cliff," she remembered the summer she spent with his family in La Sol, when she was thirteen.

"Hey, you landed in water . . . and survived," he laughed as he hugged her tighter. "And you said you wanted to know what the water felt like. I just decided to give you what you wanted . . . in an unconventional way," they laughed together, lost in memories for a moment."Besides with as clumsy as you get, you were bound to fall anyway!"

They were close, and they loved each other, but they both knew this was not the kind of love her parents had planned for them. He was like the brother she had lost, not a replacement, but a substitution for when the pain was too much, and for him, she was his sister.

"Yeah," she pulled away, "marrying you would make me sick too. I'd - "

She froze as she caught the faintest glimmer of gold. Garrett felt her tense and pulled away to look into her eyes but she was gone the minute his arms were lax. She heard him calling her name as she ran back into the warm kitchen, the light like a welcoming glow. She hoped that her feet wouldn't betray her as she ran, finding the right spots to land on as the double doors fell upon before her. The party was in full swing, bodies pressing together on the dance floor, swaying to the beat of the music, but Bella didn't notice, didn't see them. She saw the spiral staircase that she sought and slowed down, climbing up the stairs with extra precaution.

She moved slowly because she didn't want to chase the image away. She wanted it to stay and she wanted it to be there still, when she reached the top of the spiral. She didn't want to have imagined him again, she wanted to know that he was here, close. Her heart raced at the thought of him being close to her and she sped up, just a little, before stopping on the last stair. Her eyes closed and she felt the cool autumn breeze push her hair back off her face. She opened her eyes slowly, watching as a dark shadow crossed the doorway, his back to her.

She stepped up slowly, walking towards the balcony that oversaw the gardens and the small strip of land that surrounded the house, before turning into endless oceans on one horizon, and upon the other being the brightly lit, empty city. His back was to her, his bronze hair blowing in the wind, his long black coat whipping around his legs, the hood that was attached to it having just fallen back. His gloved hands were clenched into loose fists and his shoulders were hunched, his head tipped forward slightly. She moved towards him, her hand reaching out to touch him, but then he turned and she dropped her hand down as if she had been burned.

His eyes burned bright gold and his pale skin flashed different colors as the first of the fireworks exploded behind him in a multi-color array.

* * *

Author's Notes:

**ZM**: Hee, hee. Finally getting to the good stuff, so tell me what you guys think. I am surprised to have this chapter out so soon (I wrote it during my lunch break and class break at school). Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter and I hope to hear from all of you guys again, and maybe some new people ^_^ I also want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, if you are celebrating Turkey Day, even though I never have turkey, I have ham! NEW MOON ROCKS ... Squeal if you saw the scene with a SHIRTLESS Jake, in the RAIN ... EKKKKKK!!

**LP**: Credit for writing most of this chapter goes to **zm4u** and I just have to say that the brainstorming for this chapter was so much fun! This chapter was born in a few hours, after our verbal tennis! And I love how it came out. Anyway, we're now getting to the good stuff, lots of fun up ahead. Oh, and I love Garrett! There need to be more Garrett and Kate stories in the fandom world! He is the epitome of rebel, ah, I'm gushing. I'm off to hunt Garrett/Kate fics down!


	4. Tempestuous Decisions

**3: Tempestuous Decisions**

Another splash of color sparkled for a moment on his cheek, before he turned away and leaned forward onto the balcony rail. She watched as his hands curled around the metal in a controlled manner, his arms bent out as he took in heavy breaths. She couldn't understand his distress but she wanted to make it stop, wanted to end his pain. She stepped forward and placed a small hand on his shoulder, one he shrugged off almost straight away. He turned to look at her, his ochre eyes burning like flames in the midst of the dark. He ran a hand through his tousled hair, before sighing. Every movement was controlled, calculated, as if the slightest slip in the facade would ruin the performance.

There was never a moment that he didn't think through his actions, wasn't a moment where he attempted to pry into her mind, hoping that the tiny gap between them might close the gap between his mind and hers. He was torn, never expecting her to see him, but wanting her to stumble on his hiding place. He had so many things to say to her and then he had nothing to say to her. He sensed her obscure reaction to him, could hear her accelerated heartbeat, could smell her tinged blood and none of it appealed to him more than the broken breaths as she watched him. He sighed again.

He decided it was too late to change direction now.

She froze as he raised a hand to her face, his finger trailing down and along her cheekbone. Her breath caught in her chest, her heart fluttering like a caged bird, as he stopped at the edge of her lips. He paused, before tipping her head up to meet his eyes. Bi-colored orbs meeting with gold. She went to turn away, escape from the intense gaze, but he brought another hand up to trap her face between. She gasped at the touch, not at the cold, but at the electricity that ran from his marble flesh and all through her shivering frame. She had never expected a reaction from herself like that, but then she had never expected him to be so gentle. Tortured men never made for gentle movements, all men in this family were somehow tortured.

Edward felt her blood flush bright and hot against his cool palm and felt something twinge in his chest, something that almost stirred his dead heart into beating again. Gentle gaze, soft smile, delicate skin; the woman in front of him had only bloomed over time and it pained him greatly to know that he was surprised to find a beautiful woman, instead of a little girl. He had always known it would happen and he had always longed to see the product of the youth, so why could he not get over the difference. But even though time had perfected her and made her seem different, one thing stayed the same, would always stay the same; her sparkling, bi colored eyes.

How long had he waited to see these eyes gazing into his own? Thirteen years. Four thousand, seven hundred and fourty-five days. One hundred, thirteen thousand, and eight hundred, eighty hours. All that time, for such a small moment as this was more than worth it, and he could not resist her gaze.

"Edward," she whispered simply, and he dropped his arms down as if he had felt the heat of her skin was suddenly too much for him to bare. He turned away once more, his back to her, but this time she stepped around him to see his face. So she did recognize him. "Edward Cullen."

"Isabella Marie Hale," he replied, and there was an angry scorn in his voice, as if he were imitating someone else or as if the three words were curses. Bella couldn't place it, the anger or the reasoning behind the imitation, but she didn't feel afraid as his eyes saw straight into her heart. Instead, she closed the distance between their faces so there was no space, no air between them.

"You are Emmett's brother. I saw you as a child," she replied simply, her head cocked to one side curiously. She watched as Edward's eyes narrowed, in wariness, and she understood his anxiety. "I remember. You used to stand by my window and watch me."

There was no response from him, not even so much as a blink as he tried to move his stare past her and out into the endless ocean before them. A part of her told her that that was enough, she'd gone too far and that she should take his silence as a hint, but something within her willed her to keep speaking. She wanted to hear that voice of velvet once more, wanted to lose herself in the melodic rising of his tones.

"You always looked so sad whenever you saw me. I never knew why," she continued and when his silence only persisted, she did as well, looking for answers to age old questions. "Was it because you couldn't go back to your family?"

He didn't answer again, stepping away from her so there was a clear distance keeping them separate. They stared at each other in an uncomfortable silence for a while longer, Bella's hands clasped behind her back, Edward's loose at his side. He is stubborn, Bella thought to herself, her eyes watching as he tried to escape her attention. But she still wanted to know. He owed her that much.

"I saw you yesterday too," Bella continued when Edward still refused to reply. She saw his surprise show and carried on. "In the rain. You were watching me. You looked . . . anguished," she nodded when she settled on the right word.

"I was curious. I wanted to know why you looked so," he paused, looking surprised as if he had planned to continue his silence, but the words had somehow escaped him without his permission. Bella longed for him to continue speaking. She wanted to hear his velvet tones, wanted to know more through the way he said his words. "Sad," he braved on, throwing caution to the wind. "You were sad, until the rain began to fall. I wanted to know why that was, but I couldn't . . . " he seemed to catch himself before he finished the sentence. Bella wondered what more awaited the end of it.

"I was sad. Until the rain fell," her cheeks were flushed a bright red, he noticed, and she twisted and untwisted her hands nervously. Her head bowed as she continued and it seemed like it was in shame. "No one is ever meant to know," she whispered quietly, so low a human would never be able to hear it. But neither of them were human. Edward felt his rage subside a little, but then he heard cheers from within and it flared up deeper and angrier.

"Why should you be sad?" he hissed and Bella looked up, her eyes suddenly creased in shock. She stepped back as if he had physically hit her and Edward felt pleasure, although it was small, a tiny part of him. "You are celebrating an _engagement_ tonight, of all nights. The night that your _brother_, your _dead_ ... "

"He's not dead," Bella never raised her voice, but the anger was lined in it, subtle, hidden. She stopped moving backwards, and stepped forward to defend herself. "Jasper is not dead. He's out there somewhere. Alice too. And I will find them, I will find out what happened to them, I will bring truth," she clenched her tiny fists, letting her nails bite into the soft flesh, all in an attempt to stop herself from crying. "And I am not celebrating. Do not talk about things that do not concern you, Mr Cullen ... "

The new formality in her tone did not escape Edward's attention, nor the formal way she addressed him. He tried to find a crack in the defense which covered her mind, but could find none. How was she not celebrating? This party was for her. Edward felt that he was missing some vital information, but her last words had angered him.

"How can you say that it does not concern me? They are my friends and family too," he growled. They both glared at each, gold eyes meeting bi eyes as they tried to make the other break away first. Edward relented, letting his eyes slide away from hers reluctantly, instead looking over to where the fireworks had fizzled out and stopped, much like their euphoria at seeing one another again. The silence between them was reborn for a while, before Edward had to break it. "I just never thought that ... " He trailed off, shame embracing his sharp features so that he looked almost human.

"You never thought what?" Bella's impatience was never one to break and yet Edward's ambiguous words cut at her in a way that no one's words had ever done before. They rung in her ears as accusations said many times before, but now in a new voice that she didn't want to hear saying them. "That I would forget Jas ... my brother ... so easily. Is that your problem? You think I've moved on to quickly?"

It was an art, Edward decided, how she kept her voice even and her face composed, even in anger. Her chest barely rose and fell, unlike his own that was moving in agonizing bursts as he struggled to maintain his cool. It wasn't anger he felt. It was something else. Equally primal, but not directed at the delicate girl in front of him, who couldn't quite mask the hurt that shone in each of her eyes. And he couldn't stand to see her and feel it claw at his chest like a cruel monster. He wasn't a masochist.

"I never thought that you would marry for the sake of marrying," his eyes burned coldly. "I always thought you would marry for love, not money, but it seems I was wrong and you are the one who wants to climb through the social rungs of our civilization. I never thought you would play puppet, either. I thought you were different, independent," he snapped away from her gaze, her confusion making his point worse. "Bella," he suddenly turned back, inches from her, cold hands wrapped around hot ones. "Promise me you'll stay safe. Marry, be happy and stay safe. Stay here."

Bella flinched as if he had physically assaulted her, trying to step back but not succeeding because of the tight grip that Edward had on her hands. Did he know her plans? Was he trying to talk her out of them? What did he know? Questions pounded through her head in time to her heart and she tried to find the words, to say them, but her breaths were broken and uneven like she had just finished running. And why the sudden change in mood? His changes, his flickering between concern and anger, was unnerving her and she couldn't keep up. Why did he look so broken?

"Edward, why do I need to stay here? If I were to take up Jas ... Guardian duties, then that would be my business. It is not as if I am defenseless," Bella finally freed her hands and stepped back, watching as Edward's eyes seemed to fail him, betraying his concern.

"Bella, please, stay here, with your family. Let Garrett," he spat the name out like venom. "Protect the city and leave the Guardian duty to people who aren't so ... " he paused, not wanting to say his wording out loud. Bella opened her mouth to protest, but then she heard someone else call hers. She turned, listening to someone climb the spiral stairs and when she returned her gaze to Edward, he was gone.

She raced to the side of the balcony, trying to get some glimpse of him but there was nothing but shadows that lay across the small lawn before it dived into cliffs and oceans. It was clear that he had leapt down to the ground below, for there were two footprint indents in the gravel, but he was no where in sight. Bella sighed, frustrated and upset that her first meeting with Edward had gone badly. It was like a dream taking the turn for the worst, and she wanted to wake from this nightmare that stretched on all around her.

"Bella?" she gave a start as Garrett's voice drifted to her from across the balcony. She spun, her arms catching the railing, causing her to stumble. She didn't fall, Garrett's strong arms were already there to catch her and replace her on her feet. Heat spread across her cheeks as she took care not to look into his eyes. Their intimate proximity seemed different, what with the accusations thrown by Edward, and she didn't want him to see the tears that were forming.

Once her head was cleared and her emotions settled, Bella gently pulled away from Garrett's chest and looked up at him. "I'm sorry for my rude exit," she said stiffly, a desire to be alone rising in her chest. She needed time to think. She needed time to be alone.

"No worries. You're really hard to find, do you know that?" Garrett grinned and Bella couldn't help it, she was smiling too. Garrett's mood was infectious, just like Jasper's used to be ... She pulled herself away from painful memories in order to follow what Garrett was saying. "Just wanted to let you know I've thought of a plan. You'll love it!"

"Really?" Bella asked dubiously, her mind already thinking ahead to their parents reaction at their children's outward disobedience. "Because I think if it involves me being sent to my room for a month, I might not love it as much as you think I will."

"Ah, but that's the beauty of my plan. It leaves you out of it, whilst getting you out of the marriage. Don't worry about me," Garrett cut Bella off, before she could even begin to formulate her counter argument, seeing the resolve in her eyes. "I can deal with it, I'm a big boy now." And with those words, he ran ahead and down the stairs.

"Garrett!" Bella called after him, reaching her arm out in a half hearted attempt to stop him. If she were honest, she wanted him to get the wedding called off and she wasn't in a position to outwardly decline Garrett of his 'proposal'. She followed him down the stairs at a more sedate pace, her eyes widening in laughter and surprise as she saw Garrett stood on the table, a glass of wine in his hand ready to be tapped. He spotted Bella and grinned, before chiming the glass with a desert spoon.

"May I have your attention, ladies and gentlemen, guests of the Hales, my family's guests too," he said in loud voice, one that rang as clearly as the glass around the room. The band stopped playing their music and the dancers stopped twirling, all to look up at Garrett. "Ah, thank you," Garrett winked at some of the older ladies who blushed and pressed their hands to their chests.

Bella stopped on the bottom stair, not wanting to get any closer in case people assumed that she was apart of Garrett's madness. It was clear what he intended to do and Bella's heart lay frozen in her chest. She only hoped that her face didn't reflect her true feelings, her feelings of hope, because she had to play the part of the devastated fiance, rejected, lost.

"Now, I know we are all here in order to celebrate an engagement, the potential binding of two souls, and I thank you all for coming with your half hearted congratulations in order to have a free glass of wine, but there are several things missing from this celebration. First, a willing groom. It is a honor for me to have Isabella's hand offered to me in marriage, don't get me wrong," he struggled with the formality, "but it is not an honor that I can accept. I am sorry to say that I have to decline the proposal that her family has put forward, and my family so willfully accepted, because it is not what I wish," Garrett paced back and forth on the table, disturbing plates and cutlery as he moved. "Bella, I am sorry, but married life is not for me and nor is it for you," he looked directly at her.

As Garrett looked across the room at Bella, all the other guests turned too, pity in all of their eyes. Bella clutched the stair rail in what she hoped added to her pain and the guests all turned back, turning their backs on her as they had done before. She let go of the rail when she realized that it was bending under her tightening grip. The desire to be alone rose up again, stronger. But she forced herself to stay, listening to Garrett's words, her eyes trailing over the horrified faces of his mother and father and to her own parents.

"I want to travel and defend our cities. I don't want to marry and I don't want to rule from the safety of the center. I can say that ... " before Garrett could finish his sentence, his mother rushed forward, attempting to pull him down from the table.

"Don't listen to him, he is drunk," she said in a rising shriek. Garrett shook her grip off, annoyance embracing his features. Bella smiled to see her rattled, her chances at royalty and money slipping through her scrawny fingers.

"Mother, please calm down! You're making a scene!" Garrett returned his attention to the crowd that was gathering around his table. "It isn't just the small matter of me leaving for some 'self discovery' that is at hand here, there is also the fact that this fine city needs as fine a Guardian as I know Bella will be," a snort came from over Bella's shoulder, but she didn't turn to see who it was, wondering what Garrett was going to spout next. "I refuse to take her from her birth right, and I think that if she were to marry, it should be her who dealt with the specifics and the reasoning. She is young and beautiful and there is time," Garrett stopped speaking, his eyes betraying that he felt he had said too much. "Well, thank you for hearing me out and not tearing me down from this table. My apologies for any disturbances I caused, please continue enjoying the free food and wine" his eyes twinkled mischievously as his mother grabbed him and dragged him to his father.

Talk broke out amongst the women and some of the men as Garrett disappeared behind both of his parents. Bella listened anxiously, desperate to know who they were talking about. She caught snippets, mostly talk of 'the rebel of the William's family' and 'poor Isabella, she must be heartbroken'. Bella smiled softly, silently thanking Garrett for taking the hit, even knowing that his mother would disown him. Probably what he was going after, Bella thought, her relief making her ease up a little. It was good to know that her family was not about to be smeared again.

She walked towards Garrett, where the rising voices told of his mother's breakdown and his father's anger, but was pulled aside by her own father. She looked up, suddenly nervous. Her father never got angry, he was more a man of disappointment and that always stung more than shouting. Carlisle's face was perfectly set into a neutral mask, one that meant that Bella couldn't tell what words were about to be exchanged. The sick feeling in her stomach didn't ease as he threw a look over to Garrett who was heatedly telling his mother he couldn't get married if he wasn't present at the wedding.

"I would like to see you in my office after the party is finished. But until then, socialize with our guests and don't act out of place, although I know that request is not needed with regards to you, Bella," Carlisle's voice was as controlled as his features and Bella sighed, her hope of sneaking off to her room quashed. Her mother smiled at her softly, no sorrow or anger in her eyes either.

"Yes father," Bella didn't know how else to respond and was dutifully left to mingle with the women and dance with the men, all of which she had to thank for their condolences and swear to that she was happy if Garrett was happy . . .

~*~

She was nine years old again, summoned to her father's office for attempting to run away. Her reasoning: she was going to find Jasper and bring him back. Carlisle hadn't been angry but he had looked down at her in pity, anguish and sorrow, making her promise never to run away again, because it wasn't safe. He had tried to reassure her that Jasper was fine and that he wouldn't want Bella putting herself in harm's way on his account.

Bella had that same sick feeling from before in her stomach as she stood in front of the impassive door, her hands unconsciously clasped behind her back as she leant forward on the balls of her feet. She was trying to build up the courage to knock on the door and failing. Eventually, she brought a hand forward and balled it into a fist, to rap neatly against the polished wood. The sound reverberated around the empty hallway and Bella felt her mouth go dry with nerves. Yes, nine all over again.

"Come in," echoed from behind the door and Bella pressed her weight against it, the door swinging open effortlessly as she stepped into the tidy office.

It was as she remembered it; the large desk at the furthest end and bookshelves all around the edges of the walls. There had been a time when the room was unkempt, a time Bella remembered better as the time when grief struck all of them. Her father had received the news of the disturbance downtown and in his denial, he had searched endlessly for an answer as to what had happened that night. Upon finding none, he had given up and restored the room to a controlled environment.

She shook her head from her thoughts, pushing them away and creating a barrier for her emotions, as she heard her father call her name. She turned to face him, sighing as she walked towards the desk, the bookcases stretching out alongside her. It felt like hours had passed as she walked, but she knew it was only a matter of seconds. Nerves did that to a person, she thought, before dismissing it. She didn't want to add to the stress she was feeling by making silly comments.

When Bella reached the desk, she stood awkwardly, unsure of what to do with her arms. Her father smiled and gestured to a chair that sat on one side of the desk, rather than in front of it. Bella settled herself down, confusion embracing her features as she took in her father's warm smile. She hadn't been expected this.

"You asked me to see you father," she said, after the silence had carried on for too long. Her hair fell forward as she dipped her head, not wanting to appear rude. "Am I in trouble?" she asked, almost childishly.

"No Bella," Carlisle laughed and Bella found the nerve to look up at him. "No, I called to ask you about what Garrett said tonight. Do you have any idea why Garrett would say those things? He was never one to act without thought. He causes more trouble that way," Carlisle added, staring into the past briefly.

"Would you believe me if I told you that I didn't know why Garrett declined your proposal?" Bella decided to try her luck.

Carlisle smiled softly at his daughter. "No," he answered. "I know you better than that. I know that you and Garrett must have talked about this, and I know I saw him follow you out onto the lawns. And Tanya told me that you had planned to make an announcement of your own. Please Bella, tell me what has been bothering you."

Bella twisted her hands on her lap. "Please don't be angry at me father, but I didn't want to marry Garrett. He is more like a brother to me than a potential husband and," she paused, her heart racing. "I don't want to settle down to a political marriage. I want to be more active in Guardian duties. _I_ want to be this city's Guardian and I was willing to compromise on time."

Carlisle didn't frown, which was a good starting point for Bella who was worried he was about to send her to her room. She had never been treated like an adult before, with people always making decisions for her, and Bella had hoped that tonight would be the night things changed, planning to change the perception of her with her own announcement. But things hadn't gone the way she had planned. Bella steadied her heartbeat and took a deep breath in, readying herself for her father's disappointed reaction.

"I was planning on telling you my decision. I had been thinking matters through in the run up to my twenty-first birthday, matters that concern my turning twenty-one. I was aware that for our family's sake, the decision rested between marriage to a decent, higher class family or me finding proof that there was no foul. And I had settled on the latter decision, purely because I honestly believe that Jasper is not dead," Bella tried to keep her voice steady as it passed over Jasper's name, not allowing the emotion to destroy her argument. "I thought that if I could leave the city with a trusted Guardian or two, then I could hope to find Jasper and Alice and bring them back alive. I wanted to be a Guardian. I didn't want to be married. I never realized ..."

"That I would take matters into my own hands and choose a suitor for you," her father finished. His face was back to the neutral mask he wore so well, perhaps that was where she and her brother got it from. But, it was not telling Bella anything about how he felt. She knew that was what she looked like to most. "Well Bella, I can say that was not what I expected from you. I was expecting a response that still followed the marriage line. I thought you had found, and fallen in love with, someone else and were refusing to marry Garrett on those principles."

A chill ran through Bella's heart as she took in her father's response, letting his words sink in one by one, their meaning as clear to her as the stars outside the city limits. She was a woman and she was expected to do as all women and marry, have children, keep the bloodline safe. She wasn't meant to get political, she wasn't meant to fight; she was meant to give pretty little parties and smile and wave and dance the perfect facade. If she were anything like Rose, then she would be able to defend herself, stand up for her right. Bella paused, mid-thought. There was nothing stopping her from being like Rose, for standing up for her rights. After all, Rose had been teaching her how to defend herself.

"Father, please forgive me, but aren't your expectations of me rather low?" Bella wished her throat wasn't so constricted, choking her words on their way out. She needed to be clear to strengthen her point. "If I were a male, you would be pushing for me to lead a search party of several strong men, urging me to find my brother, or at least the truth, and making sure that I resolved our political position with our people. But instead, you are pushing for a nice cushy wedding that can take people's eyes away from ifs and maybes. You want me to marry and strengthen our family through connections, rather than the truth, but you are forgetting that I am a Guardian by birth and blood too. I am stronger and faster and more resilient that a normal human female and you could even ask Rose how well my fighting technique is going. I am getting better and better at being a Guardian and all I need now is for you to stop seeing me as your little girl and start seeing me as young, capable woman. Please ..."

"Bella," Carlisle leaned forward, his eyes dark as he surveyed his daughter. Bella unconsciously shifted back, away from the penetrating stare. "Look at it from my point of view. I lost my son. Yes," he waved a hand to silence Bella as she went to protest. "He may still be alive, but the matter is, I don't know where he is or how I can find him, therefore, he is missing. I have lost my son. He was far more than capable. He was the best Guardian this city, or any city for that matter, has ever seen. His abilities far surpassed that of many, and yet he still found himself overwhelmed and now he is gone. I don't want to lose both of my children. Don't think for a second I am preventing you from becoming a Guardian because you are a girl. I know many female Guardians who do a better job than their male counterparts. I honestly believe you are capable. But I have been burned once and I will not make the same mistakes twice. I want to take the safer route and the safer route involves you marrying and smoothing over the disturbances that are still echoing around us. If I could change things in a different way, I would, but I can't stand the thought of something happening to you, not after what happened to Edward, Jasper and Alice," Carlisle lay a comforting hand over Bella's, interrupting her, before her sentence could mature. "No more tonight Bella. It's late and you should sleep. I'll need to find another suitor for you, although one with a connection such as yours and Garrets will be hard."

Bella didn't argue, wanting to get out of his office before the angry tears fell from his trembling eyes. She was not going to take no for an answer, even if it meant leaving the city alone. She would rather have her father's blessing, but if she didn't receive it, it didn't change matters. She shut the door behind her, her eyes dry by the time it clicked closed.

"Well," a voice near her made Bella jump, and she spun around, her hand reaching for a weapon that wasn't there. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw Tanya striding towards her. "What did he say?" she asked impatiently. "About your decision," she added when Bella looked up at her blankly.

"He's refusing to accept my decision because he is scared," Bella answered softly, at ease with Tanya. "He is still suggesting that I get married. I just wish he would accept that I can look after myself and that I need to know what happened to Jazz, so I can move on. I just can't let go of this feeling of unease. It's like there's something going on, out there, that might hurt us all more than a missing daughter," Bella shook her head as if she could get rid of her poisonous thoughts, looking up at Tanya in time to see a relieved look on her face that didn't seem appropriate for the context, but Bella didn't press matters.

"I wouldn't worry about those matters Bella. There are plenty of capable Guardians around to keep on top of things and you might find you enjoy the simplicity of married life, compared with the intensity of Guardian duty. Especially if you get a hunk! I don't see why you passed over Garrett. He's pretty hot with that physique of his," Tanya's eyes misted over as she reminisced about Garrett.

"Trust you to turn this conversation sexual." Bella paused at the entrance to the hall, spotting her gifts lining the walls in many different bright colors. One in particular caught her eye, a discarded gift that was neatly wrapped in sky blue paper, its elegant green bow slightly disturbed from when Bella had made to open it before. She left Tanya's side to walk across the empty dance floor, her eyes never leaving the aged gift. It was as if she were being drawn to it by some force beyond her control. Bella pushed that thought aside, her hands reaching out for the solitary box on her table.

"Bella," Tanya's call snapped Bella out of her reverie, and she tucked the gift behind her back, walking over to where a confused Tanya stood. "Looking for the good stuff," she teased when Bella reached her. Bella answered with a gentle shrug. "Whatever. I think I'm going head out with some of the younger party revelers," she flashed a pearly white grin at Bella. "You'd better get to bed. You look shattered," and with that, Tanya flounced down the hallway, humming a tune to herself. She knew not to invite Bella, partying was not her style.

Bella tried to shake the feeling that Tanya had just approached her for information on her talk with her father. Tanya wasn't like that. She wasn't nosy, or at least she wasn't as nosy as Rose. Bella sighed. Maybe she was too tired, thinking strange thoughts as dreams blurred the edges of reality. She had been training for several nights now, and it had been a week now since she had last slept. She started making a move up the stairs, wondering what Alice had sent her and how Alice had known to send it for today.

She rushed through her door, securing it behind her, before dropping on her bed, Alice's gift before her. Her heart began to pound and she ran her fingers across the paper, wondering if she should open it or not. Eventually, Bella settled on opening the gift, although a part of her didn't want to disturb the past or the people left in it. Also there was the tiny fear that she was wrong and the gift was _not _from Alice. Bella picked the gift up and untied the bow, flattening it neatly on her bed. Once the bow was taken care of, she found an edge and carefully lifted it, making sure that the fragile paper didn't tear. She rolled the box inside the paper over, so it was free from the confines within, making sure that the paper was folded and beside the bow before she turned back to the box.

It was a faded velvet box, as old as the paper proclaimed to be, maybe older. It was soft to touch and had a bronze clasp that held the two sides shut tightly together. It was simplistic and small, and Bella could only guess at what was inside. After a few moments contemplation, she decided it could only be jewelry. Her trembling fingers reached out to unlatch the box, a musty smell sweeping over her as it opened.

She had been right; it was jewelry, a necklace made up of many crystal orbs. It sparkled in many different colors when she lifted it to the lift, twisting and turning it to throw the colors across the room. The beads varied in size, although they seemed to end suddenly, with no more on the frayed edge. Bella smiled sadly at the gift, before turning her attention back to the box. Tucked inside the cushion was a single piece of yellowed paper. She tugged it free, letting it flutter to the bed once she had read it:

_Keep this safe  
A_

Her heart fluttered as she traced the lines of the A with her eyes. Alice. It had been Alice, she had been right! That was proof enough for her! Somewhere, somehow, Alice was out there. Alice. But why keep this safe. Alice wanted her to keep the necklace safe? Perhaps it had been a favorite piece of hers, Bella thought, fastening it around her neck. She made sure it sat underneath her dress.

She returned to the note, flipping it over to return it into the olden box, but as she did, she noticed another line hurriedly written:

_ Trust not which is near and dear, but that which seems distance and impossible._

Alice's advice confused her more, but she could not feel its true effects because she was too tired, and now she had some proof, as tiny as it might be, that Alice was out there, and with her she could only tell herself Jasper was as well. She stood and the necklace that Alice had given her clicked gently against itself creating a soft melody as she walked. She began collecting up the paper, bow and note, ready to store away in her notebook. She walked to her bookshelf and pulled it clear, sighing when all the newspaper cuttings inside it fluttered to the ground like black and white snow.

Dropping to her knees, Bella pulled the book forward and set about placing the newspaper articles in the right order. The first one was a small piece about Alice and Rosalie going shopping together, captioned '_Royal Bonding Time_'. It was light-hearted and showed the family in a good light, one of the last friendly articles ever written about the Hales. Bella ignored the tightening, sick feeling that clenched her chest whenever she was reminded about the cruel rumors and smear campaigns thrown at her family. Instead, she focused on the two smiling faces of Alice and Rose as they left one boutique for another, a faint shadow of her brother and Emmett following.

Once she had slipped the first article in, she picked up the second, trying to ignore the angry words that jumped up at her: '_Terror Reigning through the Night and Hales Nowhere to be Seen_'. It was the first article that had covered the massacre scene that locals had found the morning after Jasper and Alice had disappeared. At first, that was all the articled had been; accusations that the Hales hadn't done a decent job guarding the night, but when Jasper didn't reappear, more foul things were whispered amongst the townspeople, until the Hales were no longer respected or loved. Bella furiously replaced the articles, adding the paper and bow last, rereading Alice's note, before placing that in too.

Sticks and stones, she thought, break my bones but words destroy me from the inside. Tonight, Alice's note would get her through.

* * *

Authors' Notes:

**ZM**: Yay, finally an update :D Sorry it took so long, the end of a year and I am sure you all were just as busy if not more so! Bad news though, I have no internet where I live, but luckily Linkkinparkk does, so she will continue to post when I have not the time :) I am sticking to the true soul of the world Bella is living in, in case some of you forgot, Modern MEETS Tradition (old times) so :D Special thanks for Linkkinparkk this chapter for making the chapter so amazing and her wonderful words. Hope you guys enjoyed and thanks to all those that are supporting us along the way with your reviews and adds. I know I still have a few to respond to. I appreciate every one of them and they keep my hopes high that this story will be as loved as A CURE. Thanks again and I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas or a happy holiday. Z

**LP**: Well, you waited a long time for this chapter and I apologise for that. It's been a hectic few months and I'm so sorry that we haven't update in over a month. That's bad. Anyway, I hope you can forgive us as we present this bumper chapter, consisting of 6,331 words! And there is a lot going on in this chapter too, lots of mysterious happenings with major characters. You have to feel sorry for Bella, except she has Edward's undivided attention, so my sympathy ebbs a little. Ah, hopefully the next update will be sooner, but please allow time for stuffing ourselves with chocolate and turkey! Merry Christmas!


	5. Change of Fate

**4: Change of Fate**

Edward held his breath that had been coming out in ragged gasps as he watched from above. Bella was looking to his landing place below her and further below him. He had had no where to hide, so a distraction was in place. From here he could watch without being seen, knowing she was thinking he was below.

He watched Bella through Garrett's eyes, as he spoke her name with a hint of joy at the back of his mind. Edward assumed this was the joy of knowing that soon he would be able to call Bella his wife. His forever. Edward clinched his fist.

Garrett surprised her and Edward could see just just how well Garret really knew Bella. She spun around, her arms catching within the railing causing her to stumble and he was there to catch her without a thought.. Edward felt through his thoughts the warmth of her body, how fragile she felt within his arms, how vulnerable. Garrett only felt happiness, and he knew he was about to give her news that was going to cheer her up infinitely. The date?

Edward could take no more, silencing Garrett's happy thoughts as he focused in on Bella's non existent ones. She allowed herself to be cradeled, to rest within his arms, to be comforted, and Edward could not take it. Tonight when it was her brother's birthday, and she was losing herself if her _future husbands'_ arms!

He quickly retreated away over the roof, away to the exit. He could not bare to hear her speak the words he _knew_ she must be thinking. To hear a verbal exchange of the emotion he had seen physically take place, nor did he care or wonder if she would expose him, if she would say that he had been there when he had taken care that they heard nothing from him since Jasper's death.

He jumped to the ground, careful not to let the golden light reach his skin as it poured from the window, but the furious thoughts screaming in his head reached him. It was the same voice he had heard only a day ago, and they were just as annoyed as before.

_Marriage! I thought for sure she would become a Guardian._

He peered through the window, unable to resist the curiousity that came from hearing her voice again. She was the same as he had left her last night, and thirteen years ago. A bombshell. Her blond hair in an elegant wave that curled along the right side of her face, her red lips pursed together in determination as she spoke the thoughts that were ringing through her head and into his.

"Well babe, maybe it's for the better. She'll be safer at least," Emmett's booming voice had not changed with time, although his physic had.

Emmett watched him with a twinge of regret and loss. He was taller, and bigger. His muscles were so big the tux he was wearing was ripped, his curly hair cut short, but he still wore the same goofy smile that Edward adored.

"We are guardians," Rose hissed as she stood up to scoop up a small child who was attempting to draw on the floor. "We don't have the luxury of playing it safe!"

"Hey politics is where its at in this city," Emmett responded as Rose sat the giggling boy upon her hips and glared upward to Emmett dangerously. "Geez Rose, the other night after training you were saying you_didn't_ want her to become a guardian!"

Rose sighed, her mind replaying her words last night, but she would not admit defeat. "I want her safe as much as anyone. I don't want her to dissapear like your brother or my cousin, but . . . it is her duty, as it is mine. If we don't keep the cities safe . . . who will?"

"Baby," Emmett scooped her face in his as the small boy pulled at his sleeves playfully. "I know you are upset, but … Bella isn't the most graceful of Guardians."

She snorted a mixture of amusment, truth, and annoyance, before shaking her head and passing the small boy to Emmett. "Kiss you son goodnight. I'm putting him to bed and will see you in the morning."

The surprise, and hurt, hit Edward's dead heart with a stabbing fury, reminding him that even in death a heart could break. Emmett eagerly scooped the boy up and lifted him high above his head with no effort.

"Is my little man tired? Huh?"

The little boy giggled, a sound of pure joy and innocence, as his father held him high for all to see. The little boy's hair was as dark as his father, and as curly as Jasper's had been. There was a tint of bronze to it, but so faint even Edward's vampire eyes could hardly make it out.

"Jasper Edward Cullen," his father announced to all his family members in a amiable tone, "is going to go to bed. Please come and say your farewells so we can all begin to miss him!"

The family and friends around him all laughed at his official tone as Rose continued to _try_ to imagine Garrett as head of the city in a political manner, something she was struggling to do. Edward could watch no more.

If Bella snuggling against Garrett's chest had not been enough to crush his shivreled heart, this scene had. He ran away, not looking back to the towering mansion of the Hales as he tried to push the little boys piercing green eyes out of his mind, but it was over. His nephew had won his unbeating heart, and he loved him as he had loved the little girl who once lived within the mansion's walls, but now she was all grown up and his heart cried out in agony.

Why must he torture it so, even in death?

Even as he ran, he could not help but notice a shadow that ran across the lawn away from him.

Rain had come again, as it so often did in this city. It was because of it's position between the mountains and the sea, making it the perfect home for a vampire. The moisture from the sea always feel back to the earth in the center of the city and in the mountain. Beyond the mountain, deserts. The sun hardly shone so there was no fear of exposure, so blending in on the streets was not impossible, even if it was forbidden by the Volturi to do such a thing. The city was over crowded, over populated, especially in the center, as people gathered to be closer to protection, to guardians. So if one or two went missing one night, or rainy day, who would notice? That's how he could sit on the fire escape, letting the rain cascade down around him, despite the freezing weather. What was one more crazy person on a fire escape anyway?

He had been trying to come up with a plan, to narrow down the clues that Alice had left him, to find his next step, but her words were so hard to decode recited the final letter she had left him from memory, the letter he had found amongst the destrution of the site of her death, but only parts were decoded.

_I remember your echo, your desire and I plead that you do not lost the stead fast even though you can feel its emptiness. It will return to you, trust me, I have felt and lost and lived. Sometimes, literal is emptier then feelings. Sometimes, knowing is more than reality. Sometimes you have to dig deeper to find what is lost, and find that it was never lost to begin with._

He had known, all along, that she wanted him to continue on, to not give up. She was recalling the echo of their pasts, and his plan to kill himself once Alice was gone and his family was safe from the disease that plagued her and other's alike. He had spoken to her, of his plan to kill himself, to leave this world behind, but she had pleaded with him to continue, but that was all he had understood until tonight.

Seeing his family again, seeing Bella within Garrett's arms, had reminded him of something, something he had forgotten long ago. His heart. Even though it had not beaten for years, it still remained. Its once steadfast beat had reminded him of pain and sorrow, of joy and love, but since his death he had come so close to losing those feelings, to losing his _humanity_, to feeling the emptiness of life after death, and so had she. Until she met Jasper. Those feelings of love, of joy, of humanity must have returned to her within that short time she had lived at his side, even if she lost it in the end, it had been worth it to her.

He admired her for this now that he understood.

His own heart had felt as if it were still alive, still beating as he watched his family, as he had watched Bella. Even though it literally was not beating, it felt like it. Knowing it was still there, that he could still feel, was more than the reality, the fact, that it was literally dead and unmoving. It had pained him to see them, but now her words made sense. Now they had been decoded.

The next part had been a little more easier to dechiper.

_You must go to the many colors and speak softly, for she within has nothing to fear, no longer needs to cry in distress about the shadows that taint her light. He cannot find the colors, or you, or anyone ever again, but that does not mean the dearkness is vanquished._

This had been comforting news when he had read it first. He had known that Demetri had been destroyed, that he could never find anyone ever again, not himself, not Bella, not anyone. He would never track again and his darkness would never shadow over Bella and her light again, but others would. His job was not over, because the Volturi was still out there.

_The truth is father away and distant, I have seen pools reflected through the window, in the distance and my heart breaks with distress. You must travel far to get what you seek, but you must keep close to protect what you love. Walk the boundaries, dear friend, for only you know what is to happen, all else is lost. The sky will never blue again if you do not keep everything close and distant._

Had she seen this as well? In her visions, the pools, had she seen how distress _he _would be trying to dechipher her meanings and his next step. She had seen he would have to wait through time, a long, and far away wait, while still watching over Bella. He also knew what the Volturi were planning, how they would cover the human wourld with the shadow of their very existnce, and if he did not save them, it would never blue again, but he had to do the job right, protecting Bella but by keeping her away.

The rest was almost impossible.

_All that ever was and ever happened, will happen again, seeing you and I together, under the broken tree that bends towards the ground. We will see each other again, when the snow dances around us, and the ground becomes iron. Press against the frozen glass and your cold will meet with mine, trembling icy embraces, a reunion to remember to forget. Some moments take time to reach, and we are no exception to this rule. We are waiting for that time, waiting for that moment, forgetting it will ever come because the lie burns us so deeply it becomes the truth, we forget what matters, we forget ourselves. Friend, remember._

A part of him wanted to believe that they would see each other again, was this not what she meant? But why would their meeting be something to forget unless it was not real, or they both were dead? He had hoped for a long time that she was still alive, but only proof of her death had surfaced, not proof of her current life. He had come to believe that he would meet her again in death.

So much has happened and we have born it all. Wear well, your trademark, your signature. You will meet the one who is beautiful in her kindness. She will teach you to hide yourself, be someone else. I cannot sing much else to you, for my voice is waning and the sound is ebbing. You understand, don't you? Let this moment be one of happiness, not sadness, for you will began what I have just ended. And the beginning always brings us joy, joy that goes in euphoric ecstasy. We are not crying, we are running together in a new world that becomes so much clearer and brighter. Points of light dot the way, they are your moments, enjoy them, brother. You will always be a part of me, I only hope I have touched you in such a way.

Seasons pass, times change, power shifts. Begin.

This he had understood less. All he knew was she meant for him to carry on, and not to be sad at this new beginning of him trying to bring about the Volturi's end. The rest referred to her and Jasper, was his only conclusion, that somewhere they were together. But was it in death or in life?

He groaned.

Why could she have not told him where to go? Or where to look? Or how to begin? The only clue he had had, he had stolen from the Volturi themselves. The necklace with the broken prophecy.

_Reflected in eyes of burning blue and molten gold_

_Is the woman who will bring forth the light, to drive away the Shadows of the Night._

_She is marked with eyes of blue and eyes of green_

…_._

Eye of blue and gold had meant Alice. She had seen the woman who would somehow bring about the end of the Volturi's plan to take over the human world, and she had had eyes of blue and green.

Bella.

He had known he had to go to her, to protect her, but from a distance, but now what was his next step? Where was he to begin? The Volturi's number had grown, but they were waiting. Waiting to know what prophecies Alice had seen, and now they knew that someone out there could possibly destroy their plans, but did they know it was Bella? And what were they waiting for? Were they seeking the rest of the necklace? The rest of the prophecy and possibly Bella as well before they would make their first move? Were they searching for Alice too, or did they know she was dead? They were waiting. So he would have to wait too. Without Demetri they were at a disadvantage they were not use to having.

"It doesn't look very human to sit outside in the freezing rain," a voice called from the window.

Edward had heard him coming long ago. He could hear his thoughts outside the building. He didn't turn to see him, speaking instead in a bored tone, "I have another job for you."

"I figured I was making a house call," he scoffed as he continued to stay beneath the shelter of the roof. "What am I seeking this time? Another piece of jewelry, or maybe this time you will just send me after another guard member and see who will kill who first? "

"Are you complaining about the work I give you Peter," Edward stood up, pushing his drenched hair out of his eyes. "I believe I pay you rather well. You have a better human home for yourself and your wife than I have for myself."

"Well it doesn't matter how much human or vampire money you pay me if I can't even return home for fear they might find out that I'm really working for you," Peter became hostile. "They hired me for a_second_job Edward! What the hell? One job, and none of them paid me any attention, but a second one? What if they actually start to consider me _useful_ and try to see where my alligance _really_ stands? What if they turn Maurice on me? He can read bonds you know? He would know in a moment I am loyal to _you_ and Alice! They would destroy me and my Charlotte!"

"Calm down," Edward smirked at the ruffled vampire. "This one will take you far away from all this I'm sure, and you can keep on your second job that the Volturi gave you. You came all the way here from La Sol, or you going to listen or just complain?"

Peter sighed, cursing under his breath before nodding. He had always been loyal to Alice, his wife being a close friend to her. In fact the only reason either of them were alive was because of Alice. The only thing they had never seen eye to eye on was their diet, and even now Peter's eyes were a bright red. Still, Alice had adored their relationship, and them, and they had in turn adored her, therefore they respected Edward and the mission he continued on for her.

"I need you to find Alice," he said affirmatively.

"Excuse me," Peter said with indifference.

"I need you to find Jasper," he repeated as Peter stared at him in disbelief.

After a few moments of hesitation he reminded him, "You are aware I am a _seeker_ not a _tracker!_ I can't find people, just . . . ._stuff!"_

"Yes, I am aware," Edward shrugged simply. "They might as well be the same thing. Think of him . . . as a thing."

Peter scoffed in exhausperation before shouting, "You know it doesn't work like that and besides, I thought you said he was dead! Like Alice."

"I said that I believed them to be dead," Edward continued on in an indifferent, business like tone. "Can you attempt this or not?"

Peter shook his head, but his thoughts had already told him the answer. He had not spoken, but Edward responded anyway. "Thank you Peter. Send Charlotte my best."

"That's it, you're not gonna give me something to go by, I have to look for objects Edward!"

Edward sighed, but his mind already had the object. "There is a sword he used, one that has been missing since his death. It is made of vampire bones. It's the only one in the world like it."

Peter turned away, , "Can't believe he's sending me after a guardian!"

Edward returned into the one bedroom flat, grabbing his coat and pulling it over him as he set off into the darkness. He had believed all this time that both Alice and Jasper were dead. The scene from that night and the silence from the both of them that had followed had been proof enough, but Bella's words had given rise to doubt. The way she had spoken with such commitment, the way she believed with such faith, that he was, and Alice was, still out there had been all it took.

He set out into the streets as the sun began to set.

There still existed no doubt about one thing, Alice was dead. This was a fact that not even Bella's determination and faith could shake. Alice had been plagued by the disease and at the time of her loving Jasper, she had been at the end. She had seen for herself, and Edward had seen as well, the many deaths she could possibly die. Jasper killing her as just another rogue vampire who had gone crazy, or the disease killing her itself, were only two common ways.

If she was still alive, then it was Jasper who was dead. Only his blood could cure her, no other guardian would do. Other guardians' blood was not potent enough, or she could never near them without being killed herself.

One could not live while the other lived, but the love she had had for him told him she could not live while he did not. Alice was dead. There was no other possibility, because curing herself meant killing the one she loved more than all others. Edward knew she would never do that.

This was the way in which he wandered the city as night's shadows engulfed the streets. As the shadows stretched, the lights of the giant skyscrapers lit up like stars, hiding the real ones. He continued to weigh the possibilities of Alice and, or Jasper being alive, and with each argument he convinced himself of Alice death, but planted the seed of doubt as to Jasper's circumstance. He could possibly still be alive, but what if he had fallen into the same lifestyle as Edward had himself. The guard would have loved a "guardian" on their side. What if they had, or did eventually, find him? What if that night they had made him one and were waiting out his newborn year.

Once again the thoughts of annoyance distracted him, and he found himself being pulled to them by curiouisty. He had been hoping to see her tonight, even if from the distance. His sister in law. The mother of his nephew who bore the same name as himself and his lost cousin and friend.

"Now Bella," Rose was speaking, her thoughts becoming less as she focused on what she was to do. "Watch how it is done."

Why was she still training if she was to settle down into a life of politics, he thought to himself angrily.

Bella nodded, placing her hands behind her back placidly and sweetly, making herself look smaller and more vulnerable than she had before and it pulled at his heart to watch her. Rose stepped forward into the streets, pulling the strap on her black, fingerless gloves tighter. Bella stepped backward onto the side walk, creating the deserted street into a battle field. The vampire, Marcquoise was his name Edward gathered from his thoughts, was full from his last meal, a criminal wandering the streets, and was confindent in his ability to take down the slender females, but he said no words.

This was the way it was, vampires were forbidden to speak before guardians, even if they were to die, or vice versa. It was better that the human world see them as nothing more than soulless, thoughtless, animals who wandered only within the night. How surprised Edward had been when the first voice he had heard was that of a vampire, Alice. That was what made the Volturi's plan to take over so powerful. No one expected them to be organized, to have laws, to have rules, or to be able to follow. Nor did they expect to be able to attack when humans least expected them, during the day.

Rose burst forward in a speed that only could be seen by the eyes of a non human. The vampire had not underestimated her speed, but he had underestimated her agility. She went to deliever a punch into his face, but he simply stepped out of the way, making to grab her extended arm, but Rose twisted away from his grip with grace, grabbing his arms instead and slamming him into the ground. The ground groaned and Edward heard the waking thoughts of humans in the buildings around them as the vampire created a crater with his body three feet deep. Rose stood back, letting him stand.

He hissed in agitation, lunging forward with every intention of digging his teeth into her throat, but Rose ducked, upper cutting into his gut, knocking the breath from his lungs, and she grabbed his head and slammed him into the ground once more.

As he contacted with the pavement, Rose jumped onto the sidewalk, motioning for Bella to come forth, and Edward heard the concrete snap as he broke a piece from the building's roof with anger.

"Show me what you got," Rose instructed, as she crossed her arms in preperation to examine their every move.

Bella nodded, unfolding her arms from behind and stepping into the street, the vampire's eyes and attention focused soley on her. He watched the way she stepped onto the street, noting her to be childlike. There was an innocence about the way she smiled softly at the face of evil, he had seen small children do it before. She was also so tiny. Her frame suggested nothing of power as Rose's frame did, nor did her attitude or her innocent facial expression. She stopped moving timidly, her arms resting once more behind her, giving her that innocent, vulnerable air once more and Edward could not bear to watch the innocence staring into the face of such evil.

Marquoise lunged.

Edward watched for himself, and through Rose's eyes, as Bella slid to the side with such grace and ease, she looked like a dancer herself. The vampire, rounded, unaffected by the miss and lunged once more. She spun, raising her arms above her, as he slid by her close enough to feel the heat of her skin and the brush of shirt, but he did not pass. Bella brought her arms back down in a fluid motion, using her elbows to crash him into the ground and create another crater.

"Bella," Rose began her instruction, "very nicely done, but be careful how close you allow him to get."

The vampire swung for her feet, but Bella stepped away almost in disguist and he jumped upward and the dance began again. Bella continued to avoid his efforts to make contact with her by simply stepping away and spinning out of his reach, creating graceful loops. His advances became less thought out as he lunged at any part of her body in frustration. At one point Edward almost jumped to the ground himself, as it became clear that the vampire would reach Bella's throat, but in a second the tiny face disappeared from his vision as Rose sighed in relief and annoyance at Bella having tripped over the gaping cracks in the road and fallen.

"Let's finish this up Bella," Rose said warningly. "You wont be able to let these battles drag on for so long in the future."

Bella stood up, circling away gracefully from another lunge, and without stopping her fluid circle, she pulled out the same stick she had used in training against Rose. How was _that_ suppose to help? Only the Hales, he realized, had ever used weapons against vampires, but it had always been a sword made from the bones of vampires it was the only substance known to cut through a vampire, but how was this metal stick that was only big enough to allow her hand to wrap around suppose to help?

The vampire thought the same thing, and rushed her without any hint of frustration or fear. He bared his teeth in anticipation, but Bella held her ground, the small, soft smile still in place, but as he reached her, she circled away once more, her feet twisting around each other and the metal following her sweeping motion until it contacted with the creatures back, sending him sliding forward with a crash.

Human's around trembled as the battle raged on. He circled around this time, his hands reaching for Bella, but she pried the stick between them, kicking him away from her with her legs.

He flipped backwards, landing in a crouch, but Bella was rushing him now, she swiped upwards, but he jumped away, but her fluid motion did not stop as she brought it back down towards him. He avoided it easily as it passed through where he had stood and crashed into the ground. He reached for Bella, but she instead lifted herself into the air, swinging around the pole that was firmly into the ground and striking him from behind with a kick. He caught himself again, leaving a trail of bent gravel as his bare heels dug into the ground, and Bella was rushing forward and then dancing away from his advanced as she tangled the stick around his arms, before sending him crashing into the pavement.

_I will have to thank Jacob,_ Rose thought as she examined the fluid movements,_ for creating such a deadly weapon for Bella since Jasper's sword is lost. I wonder where he got the vampire bones from . . . maybe he could make me something fashionable . . ._

Bella dug the stick into the vampire's back, pinning him to the pavement as she finished the job. She no longer wore her innocenct, or pleasant smile, as she ripped the head from his neck or the arms from his shoulder.

Rose walked over carefully, watching Bella's quick, fluid work. Once she finished she threw it all into one of the small craters and Rose threw the gasoline on and lit the match that started the flame and engulfed the body.

"Well done Bella," Rose said while watching the body twist within the flames and melt into a thick purple smoke and the humans listened eagerly to the silence within their homes. "You only managed to trip once, but next time the trip could end your life."

Bella said nothing, as she clicked on three small knobs that allowed the metallic like stick to slide into a more convient size and hide it away. She folded her arms behind her back softly as they continued to watch the twisting, foul smelling smoke rise away.

"I am going to find Jasper," Bella said without warning.

Rose turned her full attention to the tiny, young woman with thoughts of doubt. "What do you mean Bella?"

"I am leaving once you return to the City of Noctis," Bella continued on determidly, still watching the smoke. "I am going to travel to every quadrant, even the Western quadrant if I have too, and find Jasper and Alice. I know they are still out there."

"What, you are just going to run away," Rose was turned completely to stare at the small girl in fear, admiration, and annoyance. "I thought we already talked about this."

"I know you think they are dead, you were close to them," Bella looked at Rose, the small smile on her face surprising Rose slightly, "but I know they are not. I . . . I received a present from Alice the night of my party."

Rose said nothing, nor did her thoughts as she re ran her words through her mind and Edward did as well in disbelief. "Are you . . . sure?"

"Yes," Bella's smile grew into one that touched her eyes, causing them to squint slightly in joy. "It was from Alice. I know she is still out there, and I am going to find them. I had hoped for my father's permission, but I am old enough not to need it now."

"You can't go alone," Rose was almost furious now, but there was a hint of doubt as she herself remembered the rare gifts from "Alice" she had received over the years since her "death". One had even been a gift for a boy, before she _herself_ knew it was a boy, but the gifts never said Alice, just A. Always A. "It is too dangerous and you are not quite ready to handle vampires on your on. You are not even twenty-one yet!"

"I will take a guardian," Bella turned back to the fading fire.

"Who, Garret," Rose said incredubiously remembering his plan to travel.

"Perhaps," Bella shrugged. "Tanya will go, if I ask, I know."

Rose's angry thoughts centered around Tanya as if she were the cause of all this. "Need I remind you of Ammon?"

Bella shook her head as Edward listened on in curiousity. What did that old story have to do with anything? Bella spoke up first, "I know all too well. Ammon was the eldest son of the Runi dynasty that once ruled the City of Noctis in ancient times."

"Yes, and what happened to him," Rose pressed on as Bella sighed and continued to recite as if in class.

"Ammon bore evil within his heart, so the power that should have been bestowed upon him in his twenty-first year was passed onto another. The power was given instead to his younger brother Black of only ten-and-eight years, who became a great shape shifter," Bella sighed.

"Yes, and?"

"Black was forced to kill the elder Ammon who tried to betray the family and the family bore a new name from that day on, Black, and they now are the ruling family of the Northern Quadrant under the tribe leader Jacob Black," Bella sighed, but turned back to Rose with pleading eyes. "Tanya is a good person Rose, you know she would never be like Ammon. She is like a sister to me, like you!"

Rose shook her head in annoyance, turning to walk away. "I'm not going to argue with you about this tonight, we should head home anyway. . . . . . but I want you to think about that story."

Edward watched with great confusion as the two walked away, Bella more slowly as she glanced upward at the tall buildings around them. Rose was now the guardian along side her husband in the City of Noctis, the Southern Quadrant, he assumed. Tanya was now older than twenty-one years, and she was the next in line. Should she not be guardian of the Center Quadrant in the city of La Sol? Her eldest brother would be much too young, probably not even twenty this very year. What did they mean?

Bella and Rose walked away in silence, and Rose drove them home in an agitated one. Bella continued to keep her placid, unfeeling smile upon her face, even in the presence of her closest family. They arrived home at dawn and Rose was not surprised to see her husband bringing down five of her suitcases at once to his large jeep. What did surprise her, and Bella, was to see their young two-year-old son "helping" by bringing a small bag of Bella's.

"Welcome home," Emmett said joyfully. "I figured you two would make it back before I did."

"We'll we stopped by an all night mall," Rose shrugged as she loaded the shopping bags into the jeep as well. "It would be so easy for a vampire to get into that one . . . Someone should look into their security."

She continued on with her complaints of how easy it was for her and Bella to enter even in the middle of the night, while Edward tried to remind her that everyone knew her face and that was probably why they let her in, before talking about his amazing defeat of two vampires at once, nothing (he reminded her) to the numbers at their home in Noctis. Bella listened on in silence as she watched another servant bring another of her bags and load it up into one of the other cars that her nephew had taken her bag too.

Carlisle stepped outside, her mother at his side and waved at them all. "Pleasant night?"

"Decent," Bella said. "I defeated a vampire."

She trailed into silence as another servant carrying another bag passed. "Father, what is going on?"

"Emmett and Rose are going to spend time with their family in La Sol before returning to Noctis, I thought the sun could do you some good, plus I have found you a suitor there."

...

Authors' Notes:

**ZM**: Hey guys I will make this short; sorry it took so long to update! School you know, and yes, I was failing a class and had to drop sooo more free time - lol. LP had the same issues too (school, not the failing a class part lol.) Sorry it took so long, things will get better I promise. Thanks.


	6. La Sol

**5: La Sol**

Even from the airplane, La Sol was impossible to miss.

Bella pressed her forehead to the cool glass, just as she had done as a child, to peer down upon the city. It was a bright dot of color amongst the bare land that stretched out below them. Deserts containing mountains of sands stretched out on either sides of the city, grains whipping up into the air from the force of the wind, making it almost impossible to travel by land. Her eyes then moved over to trail the large river that ran through the horizon as far as her eyes could see. The sky was hazy from heat, shimmering and blurring as the sun beat down. Despite the conditions, La Sol was the greenest city due to its complicated irrigation system. It was also the most colorful.

Despite the circumstances Bella was just as excited as her much younger cousin; he was also peering through the same window as Bella, bouncing up and down on her lap as the plane drew nearer to the city. Bella contained her laughter as the vibrating child shouted out random descriptions to his parents, who were seated across the aisle. J.C. , as his parents had taken to calling him, wiggled free from Bella's loose grip and ran towards the toilets, causing a sigh from Rose as she chased after him.

Bella returned her gaze to the oncoming city. The buildings were not tall, but they were all built high off the ground for two reasons. The first was that the river ran through the city, and often flooded, ruining homes, so to avoid this buildings were built on stilts that raised them above the flood zones. Bella could still see the effects of the last flood La Sol had seen, her eyes catching sight of the faint glitter of standing water underneath some of the buildings. The second reason for the raised homes was because of sand storms; the wind blew fiercely across the land, and often caused the city to shut down for weeks at a time if they got bad. Having the houses in off the ground eased the damage the sand caused.

Something stirred next to Bella, and she turned to see Tanya take the vacant seat her cousin had been sitting in, until recently. She smiled softly, Tanya's appearance briefly reminding her of the heartache her party had been. She shook her head, turning back to take in the beautiful sights that the desert beheld. It wasn't long until they landed, and with the landing of the plane came the pain of reality. Bella wasn't ready to face it yet, and wanted to drink in her quiet sanctuary.

Beyond the thick glass lay the city, and the nearer the plane got, the more in focus the brightly colored buildings became. The close proximity revealed bridges that connected the metropolis in zigs and zags, high above the searing sand. The damage to the inner area of the city became evident; roads were there, but most were drowned beneath crystal blue water. In these areas - the most populated areas - bridges were forever moving between construction and repair, leaving parts of the city cut off from the rest. In the outer areas, flooding was not as common, so there were more cars and more streets and therefore fewer bridges.

Bella soon realized that Tanya wanted to talk to her, so turned to face her. She saw Rose escort an excited J.C. back to his father, where the young family settled down. Bella's heart panged, and she wondered if she would soon have a child too. Tanya, too, watched the family and sighed, watching as Rose attempted to contain the bouncing child as her husband laughed with his own excitement. Neither of her own parents was paying them attention, glancing out their own window at their distant neighbors.

"You know," she whispered quietly under her breath. Bella could barely hear her over all the chatter in the plane, and moved in closer so they could have a conversation. "This will be the first time I've been home, or seen my little brother, since my twenty-first birthday ..." Tanya looked sadly to Bella. "You know at your engagement party my mother didn't even speak to me. She swears that I'm ... _evil_."

Her bright eyes were watering and Bella's sympathy overwhelmed her, "Tanya, I know you're not evil. You have been so kind to me and my family and you really helped us through our loss while you were suffering your own. I don't know exactly what happened, or why it did, but we know you're not evil. We love you."

She grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly, bringing a small smile to Tanya's face. Their spirit lifted as the small jet made contact with the ground, the sound of tire chasing asphalt greeting them. It wasn't long before they all rose from their seats, prepping themselves for the onslaught that would be greeting them outside. Bella sighed, taking in a deep breath before she stepped through the door.

They were met with a frenzy of flashing cameras, microphones, camcorders, and notepads. Carlisle stopped to politely greet them, Tanya to pose, Rose and her husband to hold up their son while Rose gushed about how she missed her home and was glad to be back and see all was well. This left Bella all to herself to deal with the rest, and she never did well in interviews. Finding herself on the outskirts of the group, she stepped nearer the reporters.

"Welcome to La Sol," one reporter's voice caught her attention.

"Thank you."

"How long has it been since your last visit," another questioned.

"A few years - "

"Not long until your 21st birthday," another began with a microphone glued to her lips, "Have you noticed any changes yet?"

"Not really . . . "

She felt her heart drop as the harder questions began. "What about your brother?"

"Is it true that you still have secret contact with him and Edward Cullen?"

"Well, no . . . " she bit her bottom lip

"How is Tanya? Is it true she received no special powers because she too is evil?"

"Are the rumors of Jasper and Edward going AWOL true? And could Tanya be the next to join them?"

"Not at all!"

"How do you feel about the rumors bringing down your family position in your city? There are rumors of riots and - "

"How dare you!"

A comforting embrace calmed Bella's heart as she looked up to see the strawberry blond defending her. "How _dare_ you?" she repeated, stepping slightly in front of Bella to stop the photographs of her stunned face. Bella could feel the tears begin to sting the back of her eyes, and she was determined to regain her composure. She blinked several times, watching as Tanya continued to glare at the reporters.

Tanya's harsh words had made the reporters fall silent, even the ones interviewing the other, nearby family members. All Bella could hear was the scratching of pen on paper as Tanya continued to scold the reporters. "A neighboring family, a family of _Guardians_, comes to our city, braving the dangers of the open terrain, and this is the greeting that we welcome them with? Is this the way people act here? Is this the way that _La Sol_ treats its _royal_ visitors?"

"She's quite right," a calm voice said from amongst the group of reporters.

The reporters all turned to locate the voice within their group, while the rest of the family joined Bella still in Tanya's protecting embrace. They began to part to let the man through. He was flanked by two royal guards and Bella recognized him right away, even before Carlisle stepped forward. His blond hair was almost gold in the sun, with a hint of red like his older sister Tanya. He was just as tall as Emmett, but with much leaner muscles. His hair was shaggy, cut just enough to not reach his eyes, and his green eyes were piercing. He was referred to as the "Cesar dream." An idol for men, and eye candy for women. Tanya's grip tightened around Bella's frame as he approached nearer.

"Cesar." Carlisle took his hand and they shook. "It is good to see you."

"Likewise," the young man smiled a perfect smile. "Forgive your welcoming party - "

"No, no." Carlisle waved his apology off. "We are used to it, after all. I suppose you remember my daughter Bella."

Bella did not miss the tone in which her name was spoken, nor the glint in her father's eyes as he gestured towards her. Cesar made his way over, stating, "Of course I remember your lovely daughter."

He took her hand and kissed it and she could regretfully feel her cheeks burning as he looked her in the eye, "I remember us playing in the dirt together as four year olds fondly. Those were the days, were they not Bella?"

She chuckled along awkwardly at his little joke and was thankful when Rose took the attention off of her, by breaking free of the crowded family members. "Brother!" she cried as they embraced each other. As Rose pulled away, she took the full sight of him in, "As handsome as you are, I am lucky you are not a girl!" She winked at her brother, before stepping back beside her husband.

"Hey bro," Emmett cut in, shaking hands, one arm still wrapped around his struggling five year old. The boy twisted and caught sight of Cesar, a wide grin breaking out across his face.

"Unci!" J.C. jumped from Emmett's arms and into Cesar. The other man managed to get a hold on J.C. , so that he didn't fall to the ground.

"J.C. ," he laughed as the boy threw his arms around his neck. "I've got a surprise for you when we get home."

"Where is your mother, Cesar?" Esme chimed in as she glanced around to the two guards who were holding back the crowd of reporters.

Bella did not miss the nervous glance toward Tanya as he answered carefully and perhaps with less words, "Mother said she is sorry to not be here to receive you and that ... that she would see us all at dinner tonight. Talking of which, I have a car here for us all, so why don't we get going? It's getting pretty crowded and unwelcoming around here." He shot a glance at the reporters who had raised their recorders and cameras above the heads of their competitors and restrainers.

Everyone followed him past the reporters, ignoring their questions as they filed into the stretch limo. Bella ignored their general conversation as the car slowly took off from the landing field across a long metal bridge. She got lost looking at the buildings below and above them and their differently colored walls; reds, greens, yellows and blues. She noticed the faces of passerby's that peered out the windows or stopped on the bridges to watch the lone car on the private bridge make its short journey to the large building that was once Tanya's home.

Bella glanced at Tanya and could see how thankful she was once the drive was over. Although it had been only a few minutes, she knew it had had to feel like a lifetime to her. They filed out, all still talking - minus Bella and Tanya - into the glass garage. Bella paused only a moment to glance out the windows to the ground below her, most of which was covered with the flooding water from the river, which she could see as well.

"Bella are you coming?" her mother called, pausing at the door the others had already filed through. Bella turned and reluctantly made her way to the crowd who were talking business and politics. The same old story, and it was getting tiresome to Bella. She walked quickly over to her mother, ignoring the concerned look she received.

"This is my butler Tomas," Cesar was saying once Bella caught up. "He will be showing you to your rooms and helping you get settled in. Rose, you and your family will be staying in your old room, Tanya as well. I am sorry to leave so soon after your arrival, but I do have some city affairs that need my attention. My father has already left me messages to remind me how late I ham. Perhaps you can join us once you get settled in Carlisle?"

"Yes, yes," her father agreed. "I will see you soon."

Cesar nodded, politely excusing himself once more in his business like tone as Tomas took the lead. "Right this way."

He led them from the garage's entryway into a more elaborate outside hallway with decorative arcs, talking all the way. "If you look you can see the river from here. It cuts across the Hale's property as I'm sure you know, but it's hard to tell where due to recent flooding."

"Yes, floods are quiet common here," Tanya rolled her eyes before whispering to Bella, "Does he not know we've all been here or lived here?"

Bella smiled but chose not to comment. He was a young man as well, nicely tan and probably ecstatic to live on these grounds. Bella knew she would be. It was always sunny, always a place to swim, and lots and lots of green within the city in certain areas. The total opposite of her home. It was like permanent vacation.

Once inside, Tanya's room was the first they reached. Tomas pulled a key from within his uniform and never paused between his last sentence and his next to announce, "Here is your room Miss Tanya Hale, untouched and everything just where you left it. Your bags will arrive shortly."

He opened the door for her before leaving to lead the rest. Bella glanced into the room on her way out and noticed how "untouched" it truly was. Years of dust piled on the dresser, but she hurried on to catch up with the rest as Tanya stepped in.

They passed through the main entry to the opposite wing of the home where Tomas announced, "And here is your room Mrs. Rosalie Cullen."

He opened the door to let them pass and Bella peered in as well. Tomas continued to talk without pausing. "It has been accommodated by your mother herself for your son and husband. She has also left a note for you as well and would like me to inform you she will be arriving soon enough."

Her room was much brighter, with the balcony shades undrawn to let sunlight flood through. There was no dust to be found here, and it was clear which daughter was favored over the other. Bella thought she had a pretty good idea of what Tanya must feel, knowing that her family didn't respect her wishes or desires.

"Your room, " Tomas was speaking in the distance and Bella once again had to hurry to catch up, "is through this door Mr. and Mrs. Hale, and your daughter's room is conveniently placed across the hallway." The young man stopped to open each door, watching as Carlisle and Esme moved into their own room, arms wrapped around in each other as they talked in fast whispers.

Bella entered her room and took note of the fancy furniture and design. It too, was much cleaner than Tanya's own room. After Tomas briefly explained the history of the room and the important guest who had slept in there before ("But do not worry, all sheets and lining have been changed after each guest.") she happily shut him out to rest in the silence.

She took a nice shower, coming out in her silk robe to find all her belongings unpacked and folded in the drawers. Then she spent some time enjoying the view on the balcony. She could see the people clearly if she focused - despite the distance - walking on the bridges, a perk of being a Guardian she supposed. She also watched Emmett enjoying the river and teaching his small son to swim while his mother sunbathed.

There was a knock on the door as the late afternoon arrived, and the sun was still much higher in the sky than it should be. "Come in."

"Bella," her mother clicked her tongue as she joined her on the balcony. "What are you doing still shut in your room?"

"I'm sorry Mom." She stood up. "I was just enjoying the view."

"Well I won't have any of it." Her mother pushed her into the room where her father stood silently with a smile. "We are here to relax, not hide away. The only time you are allowed in this room is when you are taking a bath, or sleeping - "

"Or if you are in trouble," her father chuckled as they made it into the hall.

"Ma - "

"Don't 'Ma' me," Esme shut her door. "I expect you to return home with a tan or burns, understood?"

"Yes Mom," she sighed.

"Why don't you start your adventure in the home library?" her father said with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I think you will find some very interesting stuff here."

Bella nodded, not noting the look that passed between him and his mother and wandered away.

"Hey Bella," Emmett shouted once she was outside the house.

She waved at the head that was bobbing in the water.

"Come swim with us."

"Maybe tomorrow, I'm headed to the library."

She ignored the following lecture that ensued about the fun of outside versus stuffy books. It was only a five-minute walk across a bridge to an antique building where the public had open access. She pushed the door open and marveled at the library. The ceiling was high, with a glass roof that allowed light to flood through and bathe the floors. On the walls, horizontally lining the bookcases, were crystal glass where light would illuminate in the night.

"Good afternoon Miss Bella."

Bella's admiration of the gigantic building was interrupted as she looked up to the tall blond. "Oh, hi... Ces."

"Ces?"

His green eyes puckered in confusion before he began to bellow in laughter, causing several heads to turn their way. "Wow, no one has called me that since I got my powers you know?"

Bella was momentarily confused. Was he not the same age as her? "Well it's been a while."

An awkward silence passed between them where she debated with herself if she should try to ask more, but fear kept her silent. Luckily he was the next to speak. "Were you looking for a book in particular, I could ... show you around."

"Um, sure," she said as they took off into the main entryway.

They began their walk with him explaining the complexity of the design of the grand library, but it was hard for Bella to concentrate, her mind flying between unanswered questions she had been entertaining for years and the now-present opportunity to ask them, but she could not quite find the right words. It felt wrong to pry into his life, to matters he probably didn't want to talk about, matters that had caused the chasm in Tanya's relationship with her family.

Bella was disturbed from her quiet musings when Cesar asked an unexpected question.

"Bella? How is my sister?"

"Tanya," she distinguished, although it was unnecessary for her to ask. She was aware of who he was asking after. Rose wasn't the one who had cut her family out. Or been cut out, rather forcefully.

"Yes," he sighed as they walked into a more secluded area of the library.

Bella shrugged, choosing her words carefully, "Yeah, she's okay I guess . . . but she is a little upset with her relationship with your mother. When she was visiting my home she never even spoke to her."

He let out a deep sigh shaking his head, "Yeah, Mother refuses to see her and I have to apologize for her." He turned to Bella, and she couldn't help the flush that rose into her cheeks as he grabbed both of her hands. "I know Mother and Rosalie are suspicious of Tanya, but I want you to know that I have no such feelings. She is my sister!"

He dropped her hands gently walking over to the bookcase and Bella took her chance. "I don't really understand. What happened?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Tanya never talks about it . . . We were just making Jasper's prolonged disappearance public for the first time since Emmett and Rose had found that street a wreck . . . and she showed up and spoke only to my father. I guess I was too young, but he never explained anything to me. I have an idea now, but no one has ever said, or told me exactly what happened, even after all this time . . ."

"Well, we were both seven at that time you know? And Tanya was just turning twenty-one and we all know what is supposed to happen after you have turned twenty-one."

"A Guardian gets their power," Bella noted. Tanya had no powers and she had turned twenty-one nearly thirteen years ago, that was the only thing Bella was sure of.

"How surprised do you think everyone was when it was I who received _her_ powers, on _her_ twenty-first birthday, and I was only_ seven._" He raised his eyebrow at her and shook his head regretfully.

Bella couldn't help the gasp that escaped her mouth. There had always been _hints_ she had to admit, but never had anyone said it. Never had anyone spoke that it had been _Cesar_ to receive powers. Seven-year-old receiving powers, the idea of it was just impossible to wrap her mind around.

"At first father was thrilled. He thought his son was just that powerful, but then we noticed I had power and Tanya had not shown us hers. At first she tried to hide it and I guess no one thought that it was odd . . ."

"Sometimes it takes time for a Guardian to receive their powers," Bella recited, a well-learnt lesson drilled into her since she was a young child.

"Well, it was taking too long," he continued finding a nearby chair to sit down in. "Mother finally announced that she had it figured out and she recited the Brothers Two story. You know of it?"

"I do," Bella said honestly as the realization of Tanya's life settled in. "Rose recites it to me often when we talk about Tanya. I figured she was just hinting that Tanya didn't get her powers cause she didn't truly deserve them, but no one ever said it was - " In fact they had spoken that story hardly twenty-four hours ago.

"My fault," he took her words out of her mouth and twisted them in a way she had not meant them to be used. He ran his hands through his strawberry blond hair before continuing. "I got her powers and I don't know why, but because I did, Mother is convinced she is evil! Just like, well, just like in the story. She sent her away and kept the whole situation behind closed doors, leaving my father in control of the city. Telling no one I had received my powers. Now she will not even allow me to mention her name! The whole thing is my fault."

"Don't say that," she bent at his side. "I've grown up with Tanya. She has been such a support for my family when we lost Jasper and she never once complained of the troubles she must have been suffering once her mother sent her away. She's not evil you know and you had no control over where the powers went."

He flashed a small smile at her before throwing his arms around her. "Thanks Bella."

He pulled away and smiled at her. "You know your father told me you were looking for a husband."

"Cesar!"

They both turned to see Carlisle calling him over.

"Well, excuse me Miss. Bella," he stood up. "I hope we get a chance to talk like this again, and I wasn't lying. I do remember us playing fondly."

She couldn't help the blush as she shrugged, "Who could forget?"

He walked away laughing and she took his seat.

_And so the younger took the life of the elder_

_And the brothers two became one_

Bella recited the end of the epic poem that her father had forced her to memorize when she was a child. Was that the reason why? Perhaps he was suspicious as well? She tried to trace back the known history and realized the story of the Brothers Two was the only known time such a thing had ever happened. There were Guardians she had known that had never received powers and yes, some had been evil, but only some.

One of the unlucky Guardians was Anita Black of the Northern Quadrant; no power had ever came to her and she descended from a royal family, one of the Southern Quadrant. That said, she had given birth to the current ruler, Jacob Black, a blessing, but never before had a Guardian or royal received their powers before turning twenty-one!

She could not get a thought through her mind after that, as an eerier feeling began to make it hazy. She felt as if eyes were bearing into her, as if someone was watching her. She looked up to the top floor's edge that circled around the shelves of books and was only mildly surprised to find two golden eyes staring back at her.

...

Authors' Notes:

**ZM**: Hey guys, doing moving again and painting, hope it didn't take to long. Please R and R so we know your thoughts :) thanks guys!

**LP**: Sorry for the update taking so long, but the good news here is that I am very inspired, and I'm sure Zaida is inspired too, albeit busy. We're bouncing ideas and drafts off each other, so things should move more quickly, especially since I have a desire to write more. Keep an eye out for the next chapter!


	7. A Night to Celebrate

**6: A Night to Celebrate**

The golden eyes glinted with unrestrained hostility, narrowed into near slits. Bella felt her chest constrict, her breaths shallow and fast as she registered the hurt that lingered behind the anger. She cast her mind back to her last meeting with Edward, remembering the fight they'd had over anything and everything. She wondered why he'd been so angry with her; he had no reason to be mad, but his eyes had been haunted with rage. And yet, that rage must have meant nothing for there he was, watching her. Adrenaline spiked in her bloodstream as unplaceable excitement raced through her.

She walked slowly, never letting her eyes leave his as he matched her pace, high above her. His mixed reception towards her before lulled her nearer to him; she wanted answers. Why had he begged her to stay at home and let other people take on the Guardian duties she fought for? Why had he cursed her engagement, damning her for celebrating on the worst day of the year for her? Why had his mood flickered between longing, hurt and anger? And why had he come back?

Bella climbed the spiraling metal staircase slowly, coming up through the gap in the reading platform. Her eyes scanned the break in bookshelves to find Edward casually seated in one of the plush armchairs. His whole frame was cast in shadow, all except for those mysterious golden eyes, which seemed to glow in the dull light. As Bella walked towards him, she suddenly became aware of the lack of other people; they were almost entirely alone.

"Are you following me?" she asked as she settled on the armchair opposite Edward. She tucked her feet in close to the chair, leaning forward with elbows resting on knees. She wondered if he could hear her increased heartbeat, the organ pounding on the inside of her ribcage with anticipation. "No one knew we were coming to La Sol, until we were in the air. You would have had no opportunity to get here so soon afterwards without some inclination of - "

Edward cut her off, amusement radiating off him, wiping the hostility clear for a moment. Bella relished the moment as he spoke. "What makes you think I followed you here? I could have arrived before you. Perhaps you are following me," he added as an afterthought.

"Why would I follow you after our last conversation?" Bella's heart soared when she said 'our', even though she couldn't explain why. "You were angry with me. I wouldn't want to follow someone who was angry with me! I'm not masochistic."

Edward was struck by Bella's using a similar line to his own. Staying by Bella was liking being a masochist for himself; it hurt to see that she was grown and moved with educated, conditioned purpose. And yet, Edward could not draw away from her. It was as if he gravitated towards her, pulled in by some magnetism he hardly knew of and didn't understand.

"Masochistic? Are you saying that it hurts you to see me? Am I that threatening to you?" Edward decided to pick at the wound she had revealed. Bella flinched when he called himself a threat, and he hated the way he took pleasure in that. Maybe she cared after all, but why should that affect him?

"It hurt, all those things you were saying, words spoken in anger. Why would I want to hear more? I always thought that you understood me, understood everything that I had been through, and there you were, calming pulling me apart. It was as if you were a different person. Or maybe I am the different person and can see more clearly now." Bella sat back with contemplation on her face, the last sentence for her ears only. She'd never thought of that before. Maybe she was changed.

Edward, however, looked on at Bella with fear. Had he misinterpreted the situation? But everything seemed so clear, nothing hidden between the lines. He remembered seeing Garrett holding her, and the anger reignited. "You were marrying a man you did not love for social status. How was I supposed to see it? I called you out on it Bella, because I know you are better than that. Your family is better than that."

Bella's eyes narrowed, and Edward sensed calm before the storm. "I'm sorry that my decisions bother you so much Edward, even when they are not my own decisions. You see, the marriage was meant to save my family from political assault, allow us to become who we were before, allow us to protect our people the way we had before." She used her father's words. "Yes, our family is better than that, all of our family, but times are hard and we are desperate."

She never shouted, never raised her voice, and never broke on the emotions that Edward didn't doubt raged through her. She was calm, poised and that only served to antagonize him more. "You lie to yourself, and you lie to your family. You told me before that you were sad; why don't you tell your parents that? You pretend to be happy, to go along with their plans and promises to make the world better, and it's wrong."

"Better than being conflicted. At least I have a direction. You couldn't make your mind up whether you wanted me to be independent and rebellious, or obedient and married. You told me to marry for love, not politics, then told me I should stay safe. Do you realize how confusing you are, Edward Cullen? Your moods are making me dizzy, with the constant changes and different colorings. Now if you won't explain how you happen to be in the exact same library as me, I will leave."

Edward watched the angry woman in front of him. She no longer leaned forward to hear him speak; she sat backwards, her arms tightly folded across her chest as she stared at him with a steady control. Definitely an art, Edward thought, for no one else could contain such rage with such perfection. Maybe her silent mind was another part of her being able to keep her thoughts and feelings locked away from her facial expressions and body language.

When Edward failed to respond to her question, Bella rose from her seat, turning with the intention of returning to her room. "Wait," Edward called, and she felt a cool hand on her forearm, welcome against the dry heat on the city. Bella spun around, and found her face inches from Edward's. Her breath hitched and her heart rate spiked again; the disappearance of the hostility, and the crook of his lips told Bella that he could hear her body's internal battle for control.

"I could never stay mad at you," Edward whispered, his breath brushing against her ear. "How could anyone even get angry with a creature as slight and innocent as you are? No wonder everyone seems to underestimate you. You are a force to be reckoned with." Bella froze as those lips came close to grazing her cheek, and she swore that she heard Edward murmur, "And that is why I am yours - " but maybe it was only wishful thinking.

"It would help me if I understood why you were mad at me in the first place. At least then I would know what I had done wrong and be able to try and fix it." Bella's almost cried out in longing when Edward stepped backwards, away from her. She wanted nothing more than to press herself into his chest, taking comfort in the fact that there was a reliable person in her life. The memory crept in with mixed emotion. Hurt and joy, had he not saved her that night the blond man entered and took Alice away from her? He had been, he had stayed until he knew she was safe. "But you won't tell me what I did wrong, will you?" she asked, seeing a solid resolve in his eyes.

"No." Simple and clean, she could live with that answer. For now. But she would need a better explanation sometime. "Mostly because I do not understand my feelings either. When I figure out how they work, I'll explain it to you. Is that a fair deal?"

Bella much preferred this lighter mood, and nodded her head. "But you do owe me an answer, Mr. Cullen. And I will wait for it, even if it takes a hundred years." Edward smiled widely, and Bella felt that he was laughing at some inside joke. At any rate, his eyes seemed to sparkle with a rare happiness that never seemed to grace his features. "What business do you have in La Sol?"

Before Edward could answer, Bella heard her name called out. Turning automatically, she walked to the banister and stared down, spotting a strawberry blond head. Bella looked back, with the intention of apologizing to Edward, only to find that he had left as silently as he had arrived. With disappointment sinking in her heart, Bella called out to Tanya.

"I'm up here. I was just looking through some of the books that you have here." Bella clambered back down to the ground floor, Tanya power-walking towards her, almost vibrating with unrestrained excitement. "You look happy," Bella observed.

"Of course I'm happy, although I'm not happy that you're holed up in here." Tanya glared at the towering bookshelves with disdain, as if they were personally responsible for her having to be in a library. "Why are you in here when you could be out there," she pointed up at the glass roof where the bright blue sky was still visible, "swimming or sunbathing. Ooo, sunbathing," Tanya squealed.

"Is that why you came here? To lecture me on having fun, because you know I don't tan well." Bella held out her pale white arms, and both women glanced at them.

"No. I came to tell you that Cesar apologized to me!" Tanya stopped outside the front door of the library, gripping Bella's arms tightly. "Isn't that amazing? I'm sure that Mom will be nicer to me, if she knows that her precious baby son actually thinks that I'm a decent person. I might even be able to get my foot in the door with other Quadrants, and take over as Guardian somewhere. People have been so reluctant to take me on, because of the gossip she's spread, but - "

Bella didn't know how to react. She finally settled on saying, "That's really good news Tanya."

"I know," Tanya gushed spinning as she walked through the sunny day. "He was saying that he never thought that I was evil, and that it was pure fluke that I didn't get a gift and he did. And maybe, he did get _my_ gift, but that doesn't matter now, because he said that being a good Guardian isn't always down to the gift you get, but your skills overall. And he knows, along with _everyone_ else, that my fighting skills are above and beyond the skills of some of the _gifted_ Guardians. He missed me, Bella! My little brother missed me. And he missed you too," Tanya added.

Bella felt tension course around her, although Tanya couldn't sense the change in her mood, too wrapped up in her own happiness to see what was going on with Bella. Tanya had unknowingly hit on a worry point; ever since Cesar's focused attention on her, Bella had been wondering if he were the replacement fiance. Asking after her only fueled the growing worry that had settled on her shoulders and chased her euphoria away.

"Why would he miss me? I mean, we played together as children, but there were others there too. And I am hardly anyone of importance," Bella added forcefully, although she knew that her words were hollow and empty.

"Hardly anyone of importance!" Tanya exclaimed, staring at Bella as they headed back to their rooms. "You're Princess Bella, of the Hale's Eastern Quadrant. Many men would travel over deserts and mountains and seas to ask for your hand in marriage. I know it isn't what you want - " Bella's cheeks flushed red with chagrin as Tanya guessed her thoughts. " - But don't underestimate the effect you have on other people."

"And you think that Cesar wants to ask for my hand in marriage?" Bella asked in a quiet voice, her hands clasped tightly in front of her. "Is that what you are trying to tell me?"

"Would it be such a bad thing?" Tanya countered, leaning against Bella's bedroom door, stopping her escape from the penetrating stare she was receiving. "You'd be my sister for real, and the marriage would be just such the event that I need to smooth things over with my family. You'd put in a good word, be the loving daughter-in-law, and things would be great. Then my Mom might actually stop telling everyone who asks after me that I'm evil." Pain creased Tanya's smile into a frown.

"But what about my taking over as the Guardian of the Eastern Quadrant? You know that's what I want, and it's clear that Cesar is the Guardian here, leaving me little room for going home. Rose would leave with Emmett. They'd be no one here with me." Bella couldn't help it; angry tears were beginning to well at the back of her eyes. She hated that Tanya was siding with her father, after everything they had discussed and promised each other.

"You'd make new friends," Tanya responded, not even trying to cover up the fact that she would leave too, as soon as things were fixed and signed. "You don't have to follow me and Rose around like a shadow anymore. You can make friends nearer your own age."

The tears dried up, never falling, but Bella's eyes continued to sting as a reminder that she nearly lost her composure. Taking a deep breath in, she turned to Tanya. "It would be a good thing. For you, for my father, for my heritage. It would be a good marriage for everyone." _Except me_, she added silently. "And I will think about it, ahead of our gathering tonight. So if you wouldn't mind," Bella gestured to her door, and Tanya stood aside.

Before Bella could shut the door, Tanya put her hand out to stop it. "I'm sorry Bella," she whispered, and she genuinely looked apologetic. "But maybe you should give up on the idea of trying to find Jasper. He's gone, and he's never coming back. If he were, then he would have made contact by now. It's been nearly fifteen years. Your father's lost one child, don't make it two."

Tanya drew the door shut behind her before Bella could even move, let alone find her voice. She nodded to the shut door, as if Tanya could still see her response. "Yes. But I still need to know what happened to him," she murmured breathlessly. "So now I must decide between a marriage that will make everyone happy but me, or to leave and find my brother which will only disgrace my family further."

She crossed her bedroom, striding purposefully to the only bag that hadn't been unpacked. She settled on her bed and pulled a wad of papers out of it, along with her photo album. She stared down at the leather intently for a long time, not wanting to open it and disturb the memories she held onto so tightly. She had decided upon receiving the gift to only look through the album once a year, because that was all she could bear. But to make her decision she needed to see, to read everything that had ever been said about Jasper and his mysterious love, Alice. She didn't want to read of the cruel rumors surrounding her family; only the facts and guesses to what may have happened.

"Why did you leave? What happened that night, brother? And do you miss me, as much as I miss you?" she asked under her breath, an ache gripping her chest like an iron fist. "They say that a whole army of vampires came to destroy you, that you roused them and were planning to overthrow our father and his government, but I don't believe that. You went looking for Alice, and the vampires found you. Why would so many come to see you die?"

Empty inside, Bella flipped the album open, talking to herself all the while to sort out her thoughts. "I can guess that there are many more vampires out in the world than any Guardian has ever seen before - " She pulled a notebook towards her, scribbling the approximated number of vampires down. " - And then there was that infection that plagued the vampires ... "

She continued to read and write things down, adding up the facts and eyewitness testimonies. She also wrote possibilities down, maybes that could explain where the two lovers were, and why they had run away. She turned a new page, and then wrote down the pros and cons of marrying not just Cesar, but any bachelor her father saw fit. She stared at the lists long and hard, a picture of Jasper and Alice staring up at her.

The clock in the corner of the room chimed seven; dinner was to be served in an hour. Bella jumped up in surprise, realizing that she was not dressed for the meal. She quickly packed her thoughts into her bag, sliding it under the bed so none of her family might stumble upon it. She didn't want them finding her plans and destroying them prematurely. Not when leaving relied on her leaving quietly and without notice.

Bella showered quickly, leaving her hair damp as she slipped a knee-length midnight blue gown on. It shimmered in the late evening sunshine as she quickly rushed around her room, finding jewelry that she could wear. As she rummaged through her bag, her hand landed on something warm and familiar. She pulled out the necklace and stared down at it. The crystal orbs in her hand split the light, rainbows pouring onto the floor.

She remembered the note; "Keep this safe, A ... Trust not which is near and dear, but that which seems distant and impossible." Bella's mind shifted to Edward; he was distant and almost impossible, appearing and disappearing in her life like a ghost. She wondered briefly if that was what Alice meant, but shrugged it off. The note didn't make sense, but it strengthened her nearly shattered resolve to what was right by her.

Placing the necklace back, Bella selected a chain with two golden beads at the bottom. The two golden beads with separated by a blue one, that matched her dress. She'd brought it a long time ago, because the bead reminded her of Alice's bright eyes. Bella caught her breath as she put on the bracelet that Jacob had sent her, the wolf reassuring her as she ran a brush through her hair.

"Bella," called her mother. The door opened, revealing her mother and father standing in the hallway. "Are you ready dear?" Esme asked, surveying her daughter's attire carefully. "What a lovely necklace," she said in delight. "Where did you buy this?"

"In a market one summer. Rose took me," she added, seeing the worried look that crossed both her parents faces. She slipped on a pair of soft, flat blue shoes. They matched the dress perfectly, and made sure she didn't fall and break her neck. Hills were almost as threatening as vampires. "I'm ready."

She walked between her parents to the dining hall, a long room that was dominated by a mahogany table that ran down the middle. Cesar sat at the head of the table, his mother to his left and a younger woman to his right. The younger woman had a tan complexion and dark eyes, ones that reminded Bella of Jake, so she guessed that the woman was from his people. Further along the table sat Rose, with Emmett opposite her. There was a spare chair beside Tanya, so Bella made her way towards her cousin.

"No Isabella," Cesar's mother stood, smiling at Bella widely. "Sit here, beside me." She nudged Rose, who moved up one towards her sister, a disgruntled look on her face.

Bella froze, momentarily shocked by the invitation, although she was aware that Tanya believed this meal to be an engagement celebration. After taking in a calming breath, Bella walked towards the top end of the table. She slid into her seat, nervously looking at the people surrounding her. Cesar smiled, and Bella calmed a little. What was she going to say?

When everyone had settled into their seats, Cesar rose from his seat, signaling the end of the chatter that had broken out amongst the groups of people down the table. Everyone turned to look at him, and he replaced the glass he had been about to signal with.

"Welcome to La Sol," he smiled down at his family. "To those of you who have just arrived, of course. There are those of you here today who live and fight for La Sol. And it is to you all, that I make this announcement. It is one that will surely bring a smile to the faces of all the citizens, just as it has brought a smile to my face."

Cheers broke out down the length of the table, lead mostly by Emmett, who's laughter boomed around the room. "Get to the point," he heckled. "We don't have time for cutesy talk! Food!"

"Like you're one to talk, brother-in-law," Cesar replied and Bella couldn't help but giggle at Emmett's always verbal hunger. Maybe it was the nerves? "You got all cutesy, as you put it, when you married my beautiful sister." Emmett flushed red, and Cesar continued. "Tonight is the night that I announce my engagement to one of the most perfect women I have met in my life. She is pure and innocent, yet gutsy enough to fight for what she believes in - "

Tanya, who had leaned on the table to watch her brother, now winked at Bella, whose throat had gone completely dry. What was she going to say? She swallowed, trying to open up the tight feeling that had taken hold of her chest. It couldn't be herself, Cesar was talking about. It had to be someone else. She repeated the chant again and again. If she said it enough, maybe it would become true.

" - so it is with great pleasure that I announce my engagement to Leah Clearwater, the love of my life." The woman sat to the other side of Cesar rose from her seat, her cheeks flushed with pleasure as the hall burst into applause. Bella felt relief begin its rounds, calming her, and she couldn't help but smile. She turned to face Tanya, only to find a look of hatred and horror mixed together in a hybrid.

"Excuse me?"

The laughter, applause and general happiness of the room seemed to end abruptly like the bursting of a bubble. Bella, who had never taken her eyes from Tanya, continued to look on with worry. The rest of the room too, looked on at Tanya with confusion. She had risen from her seat and was staring at Cesar angrily.

"Tanya, sit down. You're making a fool of yourself," the older woman beside Bella spoke to Tanya, but never looked at her once. There was a cold tone to her voice that didn't go unnoticed by the other occupants of the room.

"Leave it Mother," Cesar said. "I'll talk to Tanya later."

"No, you'll talk to me now. Even in front of all these people." Silence had settled, and Tanya's voice rang out loudly around the room. "Why are you marrying _her_?" Tanya stared pointedly at Leah Clearwater, who was looking as angry as her future mother-in-law. Bella had a feeling that Leah could handle her own in a fight, and a fight was looking more and more likely. "You know I hate Leah _Clearwater_. She's just out for money and you fell for it, hook-line and sinker."

"Tanya, you know that I would never marry anyone for anything other than love. And I love Leah. I thought you would understand. I thought you'd changed. You're thirty-five years old, for Gods sake. You're a grown woman, and you still have a grudge against Leah." Cesar was being diplomatic and his voice was calm. The same could not be said of Tanya.

"That's why you were being nice. Trying to coax me round to think you actually cared, so I wouldn't make a show of you at your _proposal_. Well, I see right through your manipulation, Cesar. Marry that dog if you want to, just don't come crying to me when you're out on your ear."

Tanya finished her rant and knocked her chair back, storming out of the dining hall without a second glance at her family. Bella felt torn; she wanted to comfort Tanya, but she didn't want to leave Rose, who was clearly upset by her sister's actions too. She sat still, waiting for something to happen, for someone to say something.

"Erm, I'm sorry about that ladies and gentlemen," Cesar said, looking ruffled for the first time since Bella had arrived in La Sol. "My second announcement is that the prestigious leader of the Northern Quadrant will be arriving soon with announcements of his own, and to give his tribe's member away. And if no one objects, perhaps its time to celebrate a little more sedately after that drama."

Well, Bella thought to herself, at least there's one good thing from all of this: Jacob's coming.

* * *

Authors' Notes:

**ZM**: Yay new chapter up, and very excited about it and where this story is going now that everything has been sorted out well enough :) Here's hoping the next chapter - welcoming Jacob goes well- EXCITING YAYNESS!

**LP**: Another chapter, and hopefully it hasn't been too long since we last updated. It was written pretty quickly; finding the time to sit down and write it was the problem. In fact, this chapter took me one morning to write. Let's hope it makes sense and is coherent enough! Anyway, thanks for being patient and waiting it out.


	8. Buying Time

**7: Buying Time**

"I'm getting no where!"

The whisper was annoyed and rushed, hardly a whisper at all. She threw the notebook back on the floor in frustration. The train of thought she had had earlier was completely gone. She should have known better than to start this tonight.

She fell back on her bed with a sigh and let her mind have the freedom to lead instead of her heart, which was set on Jasper and Alice. She remembered the day's events, spent mostly in the library, and tried to ignore the fact she had been there to try and see Edward again, more than research for her brother.

Tomorrow Jacob would be there! She couldn't help but feel excited, she absolutely adored and loved Jacob! He had been a close friend to the family since before her infancy. In fact, when Jasper went missing he was there. She had cried herself to sleep in those big, warm arms. He had been like her sun in that darkness. He had kept her, and her family, from sinking into the darkness of depression.

"Bella!"

Bella jumped from her bed in surprise, but saw no one. She was hoping she would just be allowed to ignore it, but the insistent tap at the door told her that was not going to happen. "Tanya is that you?"

She had not seen Tanya since that horrid scene last night at dinner. She swiftly walked up to the door and pulled it open, not surprised to see the older woman all dolled up. Her long, strawberry-blond hair was straight, her face beautifully painted with designer makeup, and her skirt short and heels high.

"Put this on."

Bella looked down at the small bag of clothes that was shoved into her hands.

Pulling out the contents, she cried in agony. "Tanya are you crazy! I can't wear this!"

"Of course you can silly," Tanya giggled, shutting the door behind her and herding Bella towards the bathroom. "Remember that party we went to and you were wearing that dress -"

"And I fell into a pool," Bella scoffed pulling the skin, tight dress out to hold against herself. She briefly wondered what would happen if she threw it out the window.

"I jumped in after you." Tanya sounded insulted as she bustled about. "And everyone thought you did it on purpose after that. And if I'm correct, you were the hit of the party!"

"Dad didn't see it that way," Bella reminded her.

"Come on Bella, there will be no pool this time, and no heels for you," she pushed her into the bathroom after throwing the night's shoes in after her. "Hurry up, it's midnight! The party is just getting started!"

"I don't want to," Bella pleaded through the door, ignoring the fact that her voice sound whiny like a small child's.

"Bella please," Tanya's plea was more desperate, and Bella's heart gave out.

"You know I need a night of dancing to get over this! Bella…. Please…. I just…"

Her voice trailed off into silence with the occasional whimper, and all Bella could do was sigh. She opened the door once the skin-tight, baby blue dress was squeezed into, and the silver (thank the God) flat sandals were strapped up her legs.

"Sexy," Tanya giggled before attacking her with a brush. "It's just a little foundation Bella, no worries. I'm in a hurry!"

Once the attack was over, Bella was being pulled by her wrist out the bedroom door. They ran into the garage, Bella not questioning where they were going - she already had a pretty good idea.

"Good evening Mrs. Hale," the driver answered sleepily. "Ready to go?"

"Yes," Tanya squealed. "Take us to the hottest club!"

"Yes ma'am," he said with a nervous glint.

"Tanya, are you crazy?" Bella pulled her arm loose to stare at the heartbroken face. "He's a human! We can't have him driving around in the middle of the night!"

Tanya's eyes began to water with frustration, but in only a moment it was replaced with a triumphant smile. "I will drive! Keys!"

He handed her the keys, a small sigh of relief escaping his lips and Bella finally excepted that she had been defeated. She slid into the car, groaning with thoughts of what this night might lead to. It wasn't long enough of a drive to talk Tanya out of it either, but Bella still tried! Once they had reached the smallest bridge, Tanya stopped the car and stepped out. "Hurry Bella!"

Bella followed into the muggy night filled with the distinct sound of a nearby party, with a silent prayer to run into any vampire for a distraction, but no such luck. Tanya raced down a chain way of stairs that passed several empty stores before they arrived to the loudest part of the building. Tanya banged on the door and Bella distinctly heard the sliding of metal. She never saw the eyes, but it was clear that they saw them as she heard excited shouts between bouncers. "It's Guardians! Quick! Open the doors! Guardians!"

The metal doors began to open, filling the night with the full volume of the techno music.

"Welcome! Welcome! There are other Guardians here! It seems we have a full house!"

Bella glanced over the guards to the mass of dancing bodies which Tanya was now thrusting herself into. Bella took a sharp left turn, the annoying pitches of techno music hurting her over enhanced ears. She looked for an empty area to hide herself away, but no such luck.

"There you are Bella!"

Tanya grabbed her and spun her to face herself. Next to her were a group of three, handsome men, and one shy girl. Bella forced on a smile as she realized they were fellow Guardians. It was their eyes that gave it away. All green, minus the girl who had dreamy brown eyes.

"Oh, you found me," she forced a flawless smile onto her face.

"This is my cousin Eric and his girlfriend Angela," she pointed to the couple while shouting over the music, "and two Guardians from the outer barracks, Mike and Jess. Guys, this is Bella!"

"Bella," the one named Mike stepped forward with an awed look that didn't sit right with her. "You mean, Isabella Hale? Daughter of Carlisle Hale?"

"Guilty," Bella shrugged with a false chuckle.

"Ooooh," Tanya launched onto the one named Jess. "An admirer!"

Mike blushed, running his hands through his shaggy blond hair, "Maybe?'

"Well, why don't you two," Tanya giggled pulling them together and pushing them to the dance floor, "get to know each other?"

Before Bella could get a word in, Mike was gently guiding her to the dance floor.

"Um Mike, I know we haven't known each other long but I have a confession. I can't dance."

Mike laughed as the techno music picked up in tempo. "Me either, but to this kind of music you don't really dance! You just sort of . . . bounce and shake you hair around."

Bella couldn't help but giggle as she spotted Tanya and Jess performing those very moves. Mike started to imitate them, while Bella stood helplessly still in the middle of the crowd. "Hey, come on!"

He picked her arms up and started to move them around. "Like this."

Bella forced herself to move to the music and for the first few minutes, it was fun, but it didn't last long. There were just too many moving bodies to dance through, and Mike was getting a little to close for her comfort. "I'm going to get a drink."

"Okay."

She made to move to the bar and was disappointed to see him following her. She made it to the bar, him at her side, and opened her mouth to order a simple glass of water when he interrupted her. "I'd like some Don Rum for myself and a Mojito for the lady. Make them extra strong. We're Guardians."

"Coming right up," the bar tender said, pouring the drinks with twice as much alcohol than he should. She knew the drink wouldn't phase her, being a Guardian and all, but she had not planned on drinking any alcohol. He sat the drinks before them, taking his wad of cash.

Bella sighed taking a small sip to spare his feelings. "So Bella you're not twenty-one yet are you?"

"No."

"So no powers yet?"

"That would be correct."

"Oh," he said taking a gulp of his own drink. She wasn't making conversing easy, but he obviously wasn't going to give up. "We'll I'm twenty-three."

"Oh."

"Yup," he said. "My friends over there too. Angela is able to sense a vampire's nearby presence. Eric has telekinesis abilities and Jess does this cool teleporting thing - which is how we got here - and I have powers over lightning. Yeah, it's pretty cool. The girls love to see it too. Makes it pretty easy to defeat a vampire because it usually stuns them and sets them on fire, but it takes a lot of energy …."

Bella took a bigger sip and if he kept talking, she was going to need another one. She finally began to tune him out completely after the third one.

"Excuse me Miss, would you like to dance," a voice tickled her right ear.

She turned, prepared to accept any invitation to get her away from the constant droning on her left, but wasn't prepared for the golden eyes that met her gaze. "Edwa -"

"I'll take that as a yes," he said interrupting her and pulling her away.

"Bella!"

"Sorry Mike," she shouted allowing him to lead her away. "Tell Tanya I will see her later!"

Mike's shocked face disappeared behind the moving mass as Edward led her to a more secluded area that she wished she had found herself, even as they passed a couple that looked like they were trying to suck the life out of each other. "Oh Edward -"

She was about to thank him when he cut in, "Bella have you lost your mind?

What are you doing out in a place like this."

Bella's mouth dropped in rage as she was at a lost for words. "Wait! Me? What about you? You know your family has no idea where you are! They haven't seen you for years, yet here you are at a club -"

"Following you!"

"So you admit it! You are following me!"

"Yes I do," he pushed his face into hers and she almost drowned in his scent.

It took her a moment to put her thoughts together with those gold eyes smothering her, and the scent drowning her.

"Why?" she asked weakly.

"Because keeping you safe is a full time job," he said in frustration and then pulled on her hands. "Come on I'm taking you home. It will be dawn soon."

She tried to pull her hands from the iron grip and it was much more challenging than she could have imagined, but now seemed like the perfect time. "No!"

"Excuse me?"

"I said no," she said. "Not until you answer some of my questions!"

"What questions?"

"How about where have you been all these years? Why did you reappear when Alice came into our lives and left when she did as well? Why won't you come home? What is going on that you won't tell me?"

Her rant left her panting for breath as his golden eyes burned in her, but she wasn't going to back down. She had to know. She had so many questions for him. Within only seconds he was right back within her face, and she could feel his breath as he spoke. "Who ever said that I knew Alice?"

"Don't play coy with me," she stepped back to keep from drowning in that scent that was so much more potent in his breath. "The night that Alice . . . that Alice was taken you were there, she said that you couldn't follow because you had to stay and protect me! Alice knew you! You knew her!"

She didn't like the way his jaw clenched in anger and his hand balled into a fist. She didn't like the way those golden eyes seemed to melt into a darkness that she could not describe, or the way they narrowed to stare at her. "I will only say this once Bella; I didn't know Alice like you think I did. She was Jasper's girl; everyone in the world knew that, including me. That was the extent of our relationship. Now it's time to go."

"I'm not going unless you answer my questions."

Edward's head snapped and stared at something upon the nearby wall that only he could see. "Fine! Have it your way, but Mike's coming and I don't think you would like to see us fight, would you?"

Bella turned to stare at the few moving shadows she could spot through the small opening, but none of them resembled the young Guardian. Before she could ask, before she could question, she was once again being led around. He moved quickly, pulling her at non-human speeds through the building and out of a back way door and into a small, yet stylish black Corvette.

Bella knew she didn't have time so as soon as they were both in their seats she started. "How did you know Mike was coming?"

At first it didn't seem like he was going to answer as he raced across the bridge, but he finally looked and her and she could see the walls coming down.

"What if I told you my gift as a Guardian was that I could read minds?" he glanced out of the corner of his eyes at her.

Her eyes narrowed at him and she came back with the most basic response, "Then you would know what I'm thinking right now."

There was a distinct chuckle and he retorted, "What if I told you, you were the only one it didn't work on?"

She raised her eyebrows and cocked her head. "What if I told you, you were crazy?"

He laughed, turning the corner a little too sharply for her comfort, but said with ease, "It's true. I knew you would be in La Sol because I heard your father's thoughts and that he planned to take you here. I knew you would be at the club, because I heard Tanya thinking about it and hearing you up in your room. I knew Mike was coming because I heard his thoughts about how he was going to kill me. I also heard those lewd things he was thinking while you two were sitting and talking…"

There was a silent growl as he reflected on those thoughts he had heard from a distance. Mike only looked at Bella's face maybe once, the rest focused on the way that dress clung to here and the way her chest… he couldn't go any further.

"You're serious," Bella said in awe and disbelief. "But I thought your gift was your speed. That's what Emmett said."

"Bella," Edward scoffed, anxious to get his mind off Mike's thoughts, "Guardians can have more than one gift."

"And yours is the ability to read minds," she recapped.

He looked at her, his face serious as he nodded.

"But you can't read mine?"

"Never, not even when you were a child," he shook his head.

A chilling thought began to rise. "Is there something wrong with me?"

Edward's eyes grew wide as he turned his head and stared at her in shock. She was surprised when he started laughing. It was warming to her. "Wrong with you?"

The car pulled to a stop and she was upset to see they were home. Time was up.

"At first I thought maybe it was me, that I was doing something wrong, but … even now," he ran his hand through his already messy hair, "I can't hear a single thing passing through your mind. It makes protecting you very . . . difficult. I think that you are already showing some of your powers, and if you already are, then you're going to be very powerful."

Bella felt her cheeks burning as she stared into his eyes. He thought she was going to be something powerful? But then again … how would blocking her mind from being read help?

"I have more questions," she said when he made a move to open his door.

"No, its time for you get to bed," he said opening the door and within a second he was at her door and pulling it open.

"I want to show you something, please."

She looked up at him, her green and blue eyes swimming in the house's light, and how could he tear himself away from her. "Only for a moment."

She could barely contain her excitement as he followed her to her room. She rushed to her bag lying on the side of the bed and pulled out the photo album. As her hands touched it, all those bittersweet memories came rushing back.

She sat down and opened the book up to a random page. Through the black and white ink staining, faces stared at her and Edward. She ran her fingers along the edges as her eyes memorized the detailing. Alice's hand was laced in Jasper's black glove. Their eyes were gazing into each other, locked for all eternity in this single photo as she smiled blissfully through time. Emmett and Rose were with them, their laughter frozen and silent in the picture.

She could imagine their laughter. She could feel the joy, the love that was hidden within the picture. It hurt her, and touched her as she stared at them. "Edward where are they? What happened to them?"

Edward stepped away from the photo album and Bella. "I don't know Bella. I'm … sorry."

She stared at his back and watched as he walked to the window and she stood up. "I'm going to find them Edward!"

He couldn't turn around to face her, he couldn't kill the resolve in her eyes with the truth he knew, "Bella, please, for the safety of our family … don't tell them I was here," and with those words he left her. She sat on the bed, unable to look or touch the album. She stayed like that for a long time, fighting to repress the memories, the what if's and the pain, until there was a knock at the door.

"Miss Hale, you have a visitor."

She arose, struggling to fight the tears, to fight the pain. She walked in a daze until she reached the entryway where blond hair awaited her. "Bella?"

"Mike," she said in disbelief.

"You are okay," he said in a breath of relief.

"Yeah," she replied puzzled. "Why are you here?"

"You disappeared and we couldn't find you," he said rubbing his neck nervously. "I wanted to make sure you were okay. Angela felt a vampire nearby about the time you disappeared . . . "

She thought, at first it was a sweet and innocent enough gesture, but then she remembered Edward's words. He had called Mike's thoughts "lewd" in regards to her. She couldn't let her father see him!

"Yeah, I'm great, just on my way off to uhh," she began to gently push him towards the nearest exit, "do some bachelorette shopping. No boys allowed."

"I was thinking," he tried to get the words in over her pushing, "that I could take you to dinner sometime -"

"Sure," she lied as she saw the escape nearing and nearing. "I'll let Tanya know and you can invite your friends- "

"Well I was thinking it could be -"

"Where's my Bells?"

They both turned their heads to where the deep, warm voice originated and Bella shoved harder, "Right, thanks for checking in on me! I have got to go! Goodbye!"

Before he could say another words she was running down the same hallway she had pushed him through and into the main entryway. "Jacob!"

"Bella!"

She ran towards him wrapping her arms around his muscular frame. "Are you growing?"

He laughed as she let go to stare upward into those big brown eyes, "Bella I haven't grown since I was sixteen."

"Jacob will be in La Sol to take care of you until the wedding," her father said, stepping around Jacob's frame. "Me and your mother leave tomorrow."

"What," Bella pouted, "we just got here."

"Well, you can't take vacation from politics," her father chuckled. "Besides Cesar and Leah will be getting married in the Month of Lover's and we can't stay that long! We will be back for the weddings though, and your birthday."

"Wedding, you mean" Bella giggled at the mistake, but then threw her arms around him. "I will miss you."

Truth was, she would miss him, but she felt relieved that he would be gone. This meant he wasn't here finding her a future husband and if one arose, it would be much easier to diffuse the situation with his absence.

"We will miss you too sweetheart." he wrapped his arms around her and she heard Cesar enter the room and greet Jacob.

She pulled away from her father and he winked at her, "Trust me you will be too busy to miss us too much. What with Rosalie decorating for the wedding she'll need your help, and Tanya trying to sneak you to midnight clubs and Jacob trying to keep you out of trouble, you'll be busy!"

Bella forced a giggle, busted. She turned to see Cesar and Jacob approaching them. Cesar spoke to the family before them, "I would like to invite you all to lunch at the Waterfront Café."

"Sounds wonderful," Esme appeared by her daughter's side. "What do you say Bella?"

Considering she had skipped breakfast unaware it was even morning, there was no doubt she would be joining in. Of course lunch was splendid. Leah and Cesar's parents joined them and Bella had a chance to observe the soon to be married couple. She actually became … envious. They stole loving glances every possible moment. They fell into their private conversations several times amongst the guest, their hands laced upon the table. They seemed to be completely lost within the other. Bella couldn't see any of the things Tanya accused Leah of.

Afterwards there was a major shopping spree that lasted until the late afternoon. Her mother decided Bella did not have enough clothes for the three month stay so she invited Leah and Cesar's mother to join them. Bella hated shopping, but the day was not as pain staking as she thought. It was nice to spend the quality time with her mother and nice to get to know Leah.

Although her mother bought twice as much as Bella did herself, Leah bought only two bags of things, nothing like a "gold digger" would have, as Tanya accused her. She was forcefully spoken and did not hesitate to share an opinion, but she was not mean in anyway. In fact, Bella could say she admired the girl for this and at the end of the shopping trip they were more friends than acquaintances.

Once in her room, she wasn't there for long. There was a tap at the door followed by a small note shoved underneath it. She picked it up and laughed as she read the scribbled handwriting.

_I'm taking you to dinner. You've got a lot of explaining to do missy!_

_ Jacob_

On the back was a messy address and a note of casual attire. She changed and gave the note to the driver who took her there with no problems. Jacob was awaiting her arrival outside. "Hey kiddo!"

"Hiya," she giggled following him inside.

"Glad to see you're on time," he said sarcastically as she noticed she was ten minutes late.

"It's a miracle I got here at all," she scoffed as she looked over a menu. "A century and your handwriting still looks like that?"

"Hey," he mocked a tone of hurt. "Don't hate on the chicken scratch."

"I don't think I could even call it that!"

The waiter came and took their orders, bringing them water to begin the meal.

Bella looked around to see the room was full of teenagers and young couples. It was very crowded as well, it must be very popular.

"So explain," Jacob cut into their silence.

"Well you see Jacob, the thing of it is," she could barely keep her lips from stretching into a smile, "when two people love each other and are married . . sometimes they want to have a child -"

"Bella," he laughed tossing a rolled piece of paper at her. "You know what I mean."

"Not really," she shrugged.

"Your engagement party?"

"Don't tell me you knew about it!"

"Of course I did," he sounded insulted. "Did you not get my present?"

She held her wrist up so he could see the little gift. "Well it seems that I was the only one who didn't know it would be an engagement party."

"What do you mean?"

She went into the entire story, how it was the night she was to announce if she would marry or become a Guardian, and she had chosen Guardian; how both her parents and Garrett's parents had arranged the marriage; how Garrett knew why they wanted it that way and called it off so she would get the sympathy looks from the press and not the bad ones.

"I love Garrett, I'm sure he's back home here in La Sol guarding the streets and I plan to see him soon, but I don't want to marry him!" She finished.

"Why not," Jacob asked with fervour. "What's so bad about getting married to another Guardian who could rule for you while you take care of the city? Is being in charge of politics not the same as wondering the streets at night? You will be keeping the city safe, just in another way."

She shook her head and said, "I guess, in all honesty, you have a point, but Jacob . . . I have to find Jasper! I need to know where he is, or what happened to him!"

Jacob sighed and placed his hand on the table. She took it as he stared into her eyes with a silent plea, "Bella please let this go. If Jacob or Alice are alive, you're not going to find them if they do not wish to be found. I honestly don't think they both are alive, and I know it hurts you to hear this, but it's the truth. I think you should know my thoughts. I think something happened to Alice and I think Jasper is with Edward now. I am convinced Edward is working on something that is keeping him underground to protect the family and the people. Bella, you searching for them could ruin whatever they have going on -"

"You're wrong," Bella clenched his hand and scooted closer to the table's edge to look at him. "Jasper is not with Edward. Edward thinks they are dead as well!"

"How do you know that… have you seen him again?"

"Yes!"

She covered her mouth instantly. Had he not asked her to keep this information silent?

"Tell me, " Jacob eyes were growing wide with excitement. "Tell me everything. Is he ok? What has he said?"

"Jacob you can't tell anyone you understand," she got up and set down next to him and he wrapped her hands in his to get his full focus. "I think you are right- about him working on something that is keeping him underground. He is so pale, and he looks tired, and he's awfully cranky. Last night he made me promise not to tell anyone I saw him! He said it was for the protection of our family -"

"You saw him just last night!"

"Please Jacob! Remember all those stories you told me about him? Remember how close you two were? Promise me on all those memories you won't mention a word about this to anyone! Promise!'

"Okay, okay," he said, "I promise."

"Cross your heart!"

He made an X movement over his heart and held up his hand, "But you have to tell me everything Bells."

"I saw him one day in the city, the day before my engagement party, but he didn't talk to me. I saw him at my engagement party as well. And twice since I've been here in La Sol."

"Well how is he, what did he say?"

"I told you," Bella laughed at the way his face lit up like a small child. "He is very pale and cranky. He hasn't said much, just that I get into trouble too much and that I should get married and do politics. He doesn't want to talk much, but I can tell he's sad and that he misses the family."

Jacob opened his mouth, but a thought surfaced that took Bella on a whole new lead. "And I know Alice is alive! She's made contact with me!"

"What?"

"At my engagement party she left me a gift with a note that says 'Trust not which is near and dear, but that which seems distance and impossible," she recited.

"Are you sure Bella?" he asked skeptically.

"Yes, I'm sure. You see Jacob. I can't get married! I have to search for them! But …." she let go of his hands and sat back in the chair. "My dad is not going to let this go. He is going to keep trying to find me a husband."

They sat in silence, minus the constant, incoherent mix of sounds from the crowd around them. Finally Jacob slowly began to speak. "Edward has made contact with you … Alice has as well … and you want to go and find them, but your father is forcing you to marry…"

Bella said nothing and allowed him to put the pieces together. Finally he looked at her, a smile spreading onto his face. "Bells, I got it!"

"What?"

"A plan," he said with a wicked smile that spread to her own face.

"Tell me!"

"Let's date!"

"What?"

"Yeah, let's date," he repeated more enthusiastically. "This can be our first date! What do you say?"

"You've lost it haven't you," she scoffed. "Don't you wolves imprint or something?"

"Well yeah Bella," he shrugged. "But my dad never imprinted, maybe I won't either, maybe it's because I'm going to live forever or something."

"Jacob!"

"Look," he said taking her hands and staring into her eyes. "I'm not asking you to marry me, just date me. You can let the press assume it, I mean look around us."

Bella turned to see eyes glancing their way with hidden cameras.

"They are all assuming it anyways. The press will say we are and we can say we would like to keep our relationship private - it will set them over the edge," he laughed at the brilliancy of his plan. "You can write to your father and say you are dating me and whatever else you wish. It will make him happy and he will give up on the idea of you marrying. It will give you time Bells!"

Bella took a second glance around the room at the shifting eyes and the almost hidden cameras. People were whispering to their neighbors trying to point or nod their heads in their direction without being seen.

"Maybe that's not such a bad idea," she turned back to the smiling face. "Bella, daughter of the Hales and future leader of the Eastern Quadrant. Jacob, leader of the Northern Quadrant who's rumored to step down. Courting. It would give everyone something cheery to talk about for once."

"Including your father," he added.

"Okay, let's do it," she decided. "It will give everyone peace of mind. Although I have to say, I've never imagined dating a man who's a hundred and ten years older than me."

He laughed wrapping his arms around her into an embrace as cameras flashed.

**

* * *

**

Authors' Notes:

**ZM**: Hey guys, sorry for the delay, I left on a week long cruise and it put me behind, but here is the chapter, almost 5000 words (yeah I did a lot of writing haha), so it should keep you entertained. I hope you guys enjoy. Thanks to all those who have reviewed and supported the story I really appreciate it and check out some of my new posted stories.

**LP**: I saw Eclipse last Wednesday (which, incidentally, came out later in the UK than the USA) and I fell in love with the Twilight series all over again. It's really inspired me to move back to FanFic, after taking a break to write my own original stories, and it even inspired me to writer another Alice/Jasper story ("Something Wicked"), so I'm sorry for the delay. However, I am ready to start the next chapter of "Night's Shadow", so I'm going to work on that ASAP! Enjoy this chapter!


	9. Dangerous Rumors

**8: Dangerous Rumors**

Edward huddled further into his coat hood, keeping his bronze hair and golden eyes hidden in the shadows. There weren't many vampires down here, but there was still that risk of him being recognized and attacked. He was still getting used to the vampire mood of transport; the underground passages and tunnels linking cities had been a surprise to him, until he'd figured that the vampires had hidden metropolises under human cities. Nothing had surprised him after that, except for one girl.

His mind moved to Bella and her silent thoughts, and even more silent motives. He was returning to La Sol after a few weeks away, but it had felt like longer to him. Days and nights had blended together to form little distraction, and he'd found himself thinking about Bella more often than not. What was she doing? Was she still forming that ridiculous plan of hers? He shuddered as he remembered that haunted look in her eyes as he'd backed away from her. She'd been desperate to find out more about her brother, and he could offer her nothing. It had been stupid of him to accuse her of not caring about him, on that fateful day so long ago.

A larger crowd of vampires emerged around the next corner, the one that led to the vampire "freeway" as it were. Edward melted into the shadows, his eyes focused on the attire of the vampires. Around three of the group were wearing black cloaks, ones that Edward recognized as the uniform of the vampiric royals' protectors. The largest vampire in the group looked up as Edward walked past, his eyes narrowed as they sought out Edward.

"Hold on nomad," the vampire said, raising a hand to stop Edward's passage. "A word if we may." The large vampire signaled to the other two cloaked vampires, who stepped up to block Edward's way forwards and backwards. Edward sighed, impatiently raiding the vampire's head to see why he had stopped him; His scent is familiar to me. If only I could get a good look at his eyes ...

Edward froze when he realized what was about to happen, anticipation making his chest rise and fall impatiently. Venom was beginning to form in his mouth, a reaction to the danger that had surrounded him. He clenched his fists tightly, trying to keep his cool as the large vampire stepped closer to him, a hand out to make a grab at Edward's hood. The other vampires who had been in the group looked on curiously, their red eyes glinting like embers in the dim passageway.

"What's wrong Dante?" asked one of the other vampires in a bored voice. "It's just a nomad. Let him be so we can continue in the company of our friends." The vampire's eyes flicked towards the girls who were stood a little way from the men. He had a hungry look in his eyes that spoke louder than the crude thoughts in his mind. Edward took a deeper look, finding that this vampire was new to the guard. This would play to his advantage in a minute.

"I think I know this nomad, and if I'm right, we're all going to be getting mega blood bonuses early from Aro," the one named Dante said. "Bonuses that are worth our time more than those whores you picked up outside of Prodosia. I just need you two to back me up if I'm right. This nomad could be trouble."

"Since when has a nomad been able to overpower the Volturi guard, Dante?" drawled the third vampire. His thoughts told Edward that he was gunning for a fight, and would only react if he was likely to get one. To him, Edward was a poor threat, and an even poorer distraction when it came the sort of fight he was looking for. "We're wasting our time here. You know there's only one day left of our shore time, as it were, and I want to spend it doing something a little more constructive than bothering the locals."

"You just don't get it, do you Afton? Remember a few weeks back, when the prophecy was stolen? An order was sent out to retrieve that and the vampire who had taken it. Alec and Jane brought a cloak to Aro, one that had the renegade vampire's scent on it. I was there, and I smelt it. And him - " Dante sent a glare towards Edward, who was suddenly feeling the full force of the situation he was in. "Well, his scent just happens to be a lot like that stink the twins brought back."

Edward looked upwards, seeking for some way to get out from between the three Volturi members. Beams crisscrossed the underground passage's ceiling, holding the earth up. A plan begin to form in Edward's mind as fighting between the three vampires kicked up. All it would take was one good, strong jump, and he would be on the beams. He could attack or defend from above, and as soon as he was in the straight tunnel, he was home and dry. All he needed was one distraction.

He didn't need to waste time probing the minds around him, because at that moment one of the female vampires approached the guards. She looked irritated, and her mind matched her outward mood. "Are you planning on taking us to Noctis to hunt, or should we take ourselves? You seem a lot more interested in this male nomad, than you do in us."

"Shut up Maria," Dante snarled, and the moment he span around to shove her away was the moment Edward chose to jump up into the air. He wrapped his arms around the beam, swinging up in one fluid movement. The vampires below moved around in surprise, trying to figure out where Edward had gone to. He jumped to the next beam over, hiding himself in the shadows. "Where'd he go?" Dante growled, before turning on the female. "Now look what you've done, you stupid idiot."

"I'll be seeing you later," she huffed, returning to her female friends as the Dante and Afton started searching for Edward. "Much, much later," she added bitterly. Her friends nodded their agreement, before they all blurred off down the tunnel, leaving Edward alone with three furious vampires.

"He couldn't have gone far. We would have known if he'd run past us. That means he could only have gone up." All three vampires looked up at once, a smug grin settling on Dante's expression as Afton pointed at the beams. "You two get up there, and I'll wait down here. There's no way he'll escape with my gift in play."

Edward crept backwards slowly, his mind crowded with the thoughts and plans of the Volturi members. It seemed that Afton had a pretty powerful gift, hence his automatic promotion to guard member, even though he'd been a vampire for just over a year. Edward dug through his thoughts, trying to find a clue as to what it was, while trying to keep tabs on the two climbing nearer to him. The duel task proved dangerous; a loss in concentration caused him to slip.

"He's over there Dante!" the blonde vampire shouted excitedly.

Dante turned, grinning when he saw Edward's hood slip, exposing his tousled bronze hair. "Hello Cullen," he smirked wickedly. "Long time no see. Don't think you'll be escaping from the Volturi this time," he finished, before leaping forward with his arms outstretched. Edward dodged the assault, agilely landing on the beam next to him.

"So you were in the catacombs after all," Edward goaded. "Not close enough to scent me for yourself. Too fast for you, wasn't it. You had to miss out on all of the excitement while you choked on dust." The taunting worked, and Dante's next attack went too far left, giving Edward the opportunity to grab the vampire's legs and swing him into his partner.

The two vampires collided, sending a thunderous noise down the tunnel. Edward smiled, leaping down onto the ground to face the third member. Afton stood still, watching him lazily. His nonchalant attitude spooked Edward, who had a feeling the last Volturi member knew something he did not. Unnerved, Edward went to move backwards and found that he couldn't move at all. He looked up at Afton, who cocked his head to the side.

"What's wrong nomad?" he asked. "Can't move? I can't say I'm sorry to hear that." Edward braced himself as a fist came hurtling towards his face. The blow knocked him off his feet, sending him skidding into the wall. He rolled with the impact, climbing to his feet as quickly as he could. "You won't be getting far, you know. I've got you right where I want you." Dante and the blonde vampire landed on either side of Afton, all of them advancing on Edward.

Edward tried to move again, but found that his limps were stuck in place. He looked up at Afton, whose thoughts were finally focused on his gift and nothing else. A snarl ripped from Edward's chest as he realized that Afton had strong telekinesis, and could move or keep objects in place. Including other vampires. If Edward was going to escape, he would have to take that vampire out. He struggled against the bindings once more, and found that he could move his arms.

"I think I'm going to enjoy tearing Cullen apart," Dante said, his red eyes glowing with a feverous bloodlust. "Limb from tiny limb, ever so slowly. I'm going to take out Felix and Demetri's deaths out on his scrawny ass, and it's gonna hurt. I want you to hold him in place Afton, so that he doesn't escape from me this time."

"That's just like you, isn't it Dante?" Edward called out of desperation. Dante didn't pause in his slow descent on Edward, so he tried again. "It's just like you to have your underlings hold a vampire in place while you tear into them. It's only because you're afraid. Afraid of losing, because you know that if you fought me fairly, I'd beat you. And you'd never be able to show your face around the Volturi without being laughing at you. It's just how bullies work. It's just how you work."

Dante stopped dead in his tracks, running a hand through his black-cropped hair. "Afton," he snarled. "Let him go. Cane guard the south exit and Afton guard the north exit. I'm going to destroy Cullen by myself, and shut up that smart mouth of his, once and for all. He's been whining for way to long."

"But Dante, you said it yourself, Aro wants Cullen alive. At least, he wants him alive until he has both parts of the prophecy safely in his hands. You can't destroy him, even if he is scum. I won't stop you if you want to play with him, just remember to reassemble him when you're done," Cane said. Dante's eyes narrowed, and Cane nodded as if he took that as an agreement. "We'll stop the nomads from coming down until your done. Cullen might be fast, but Afton is quicker."

When the other Volturi members were gone, Dante turned to face Edward. They paced around in a circle, neither one moving forward to attack, or making a move to run away. "Cullen, Cullen, Cullen. You made a rookie mistake coming down here. Don't you know that Aro's got every vampire under the sun and earth out looking for you. He was furious when he found out that you'd gotten the prophecy."

"Did he take it out on your ass then? Is that why you're looking to tear me apart? Because you know that I had nothing to do with your brother's death," Edward asked, keeping an ear out for Dante's ever-changing thoughts. "You know that you can't blame me for your failure. You were never going to be as good as your big brother. You just don't have the same control."

Dante let out a deep throated snarl, charging forwards at Edward like a freight train. They slammed into each other, Edward wrapping his arms around Dante's bulky frame so that the vampire could do nothing more than push him forwards. Edward's feet slid through the crumbling dirt, before he let go and lunged over the top of Dante, letting the large vampire crash into the wall. The force of it shook the tunnel, leaving another dent in the wall amongst the many dents.

"You don't have the right to talk about my brother, Cullen!" Dante hissed through clenched teeth, his chest rising and falling viciously as he span to face Edward. "Felix was a better man, and a better vampire, than you could ever wish to be. Your stupid friends just got the jump on him, is all. And Aro respects that I am as good as my brother, because he allowed me to take up his seat on the guard to redeem my family name!"

"Couldn't have been that good if he let Alice and Jasper get the jump on him. And you know Aro only let you on the guard because he likes to have muscle between him and threats. You're nothing to him, nothing to any of them. You don't have a gift. You're expendable." Edward stepped to the left as Dante flew by him. The vampire managed to control his momentum in time to continue round and face Edward, his cloak billowing behind him.

"You'll pay for you words!" he spat, before he hurtled himself at Edward again. Edward jumped over him, seeing his thoughts before he saw his actions. But instead of waiting for Dante to attack again, he grabbed the back of the vampires cloak and jumped over his head, bringing the cloak down with him. Edward tugged tightly, wrapping the cloak in taunt folds around the struggling vampire. One shove later, Dante was on the floor, trying to tear his way out of the cocoon.

"I don't have time for your stupid games, Dante. I have better things to do with my time. Maybe we'll fight again when you learn an attack other than charging. It does get predictable," Edward said, before making his way towards the north exit. "And this is for Alice and Jasper - " He blurred to Dante's side, sending his foot into the vampire's side. "You're not the only one who lost that day."

Edward jogged at a slow vampire pace towards the north exit, aware that Afton and his gift was waiting for him. The red-headed vampire was lounging lazily against the wall, not expecting anyone to approach him from behind. His thoughts were currently on his mate, and they stopped Edward dead in his tracks as he went to attack the vampire from behind. They were soft thoughts, sweet and caring, reminding him of his own constant daydreams of Bella. He couldn't bring himself to kill the vampire. But he still had to get to La Sol before Dante tore himself free.

Afton turned as something caught his attention. It was quiet. Too quiet. He stepped forwards, looking for some sign of trouble. A yell ripped through the silence, and he ran towards the sound, there a human heartbeat later. From the corner of his eye he saw Cane arrive, his expression equally confused as they stared at the mass of black fabric before them. Carefully, Afton bent down to rip his teeth into the material, pulling it to shreds. A hand shot out, tightening painfully around his throat.

"Da … Dan .. Dante," he spluttered. "Let … Let go! It's … It's muh … me!"

"I know it's you," snapped Dante. "But if you're here, and Cane is there, where the hell is Cullen?" Dante shoved Afton back, the vampire stumbling to the ground. "Neither of you are to speak of this to anyone. And don't you dare go and see Aro. You know that he'll see into your thoughts. We'll all be in trouble if he finds out we let Cullen escape."

"Again," Cane muttered. Dante swung his legs around, causing the other vampire to fall to the ground. He groaned, as a chuckle sounded from the shadows.

**.:*:.**

The sun was setting in the distance as Edward emerged from the tunnels. He was on the outskirts of the city, where the desert met the first of the human buildings. They were far enough out to avoid detection from humans, but close enough to hunt freely in the slums every night. It was the perfect bolthole, and it even had its own welcome committee in the form of a car rental service and a tourist centre. Edward headed towards the tall, blond vampire who was offering car rentals to a group of tourist vampires. It was a strange sight that Edward had yet to get used to; vampires acting as humans and visiting different cities.

"I understand that you want a car, mister, but my boss says that it's not safe at the moment. There are too many Guardians in the city, and cars are risky business at the best of times. I advise that you head west from here and stay in the vampire city, just until the Guardians leave, and then you can take a car around La Sol. Look - " The female vampire turned to look at her boss, who was shutting up shop with a handwritten sign.

"I only came here for a snatch and to grab a snack. I need to get two humans for me and my mate, and a car is the easiest, cleanest method. Why don't you tell your boss to shove his precautions where the sun don't shine, and give me a damn car?" the male vampire snapped.

"I can't. Sorry. The nearest vampire settlement is just west of here, and you'll be there in no time at all. Then you can buy bottled blood from one of the vendors. Only suicidal vampires are heading into La Sol at the moment, what with the number of Guardians on patrol. And you know there's no established vampire settlement below La Sol, due to the amount of water underneath it from floodings. I can't let you have a car." The female vampire moved away, and Edward stepped forward.

"Good morning Irina," he said with a crooked smile. "It's been a while. Do you have my car still on hold, because I'm going to need it tonight? I can come back later if it's going to cause you trouble," he added, his gold eyes gazing over at the angry couple who were shouting at her boss now.

"No, it's no trouble Edward. I kept it out of sight for your return. Did you manage to sort the problem at Prodosia without any problems?" she asked, heading towards a second, private passage that was more hidden than the public one. "I heard that Aro had sent out a lot of Volturi members to monitor the situation, in case it got out of hand. I thought that might have caused you problems getting between here and Noctis."

"There was one hiccup, involving a few Volturi members, but that was easily dealt with. As for the attack on the Hales, it was straight forward enough to stop it without detection. The vampires had been hunting a lot in the run up to their planned attack, and it was easy enough to follow the trail of human bodies to them. They didn't know what hit them," Edward answered, eyes burning furiously as he remembered the attack on his family. "Is it true?" he asked, calming back down. "That the number of Guardians in the city has gone up."

"As much as my boss would like to deny it, it's true. Apparently there's going to be a double wedding at the end of winter, in the Month of Lovers. Guardians are coming and going out of the city in large numbers, and patrols have gone up to protect both the couples. Good thing too, because I heard that the brothers are on the move. Each of them seems to have headed somewhere, though no one knows where. I think they're planning something big," Irina said from below. Edward paused to think to himself as Irina started the car up.

Two weddings. There weren't that many marriageable Guardians at the moment, Bella being one of the few. And there had been that failed engagement for her before. Could she be one of the couples? Edward frowned, and then shook his head, unsure why that thought made him so angry. She was her own person, yet the thought of her with another man made him jealous, and if he were honest with himself, hurt. He ignored the thought, remembering the last time he had jumped to conclusions, and how upset Bella had been there. He would just have to ask her himself when he saw her.

"You say there's news of the brothers being on the move," he said as Irina climbed out of his car. "But the brothers never move. They always stay within the west Quadrant, where they can keep a steady guard. They've only ever moved from there once." And that was to kill my friend and her soulmate, he thought bitterly. "Why would they travel now, and separately no less?"

"I don't know Edward, I just hear the gossip and pass it on to you. And the gossip is that they are on the move. That's why you're likely to see more guards in the traveling system. You'll be alright here though," Irina added. "No one really comes to La Sol, since there can't be a city underneath it and the hunting is awkward. You'll be safe if you stay here with me."

"It's not about being safe Irina, it's about the game they're playing. It's like they're moving chess pieces into position, and we have no idea of the attack they're about to launch." Edward accepted the car keys that a disgruntled Irina was handing to him. "I'll see you later," he said, before climbing into the car and starting it up. He made sure to drive annoyingly close to the vampire couple who had started screaming at Irina again, a grin on his face.

**.:*:.**

The car offered Edward protection from the relentless scent of blood that was wafting around the restaurant. It didn't seem to bother him too much, except to make an uncomfortable burning sensation creep into his throat. It had no control over his mind, but his body was another matter, and it was always more comfortable for him to cut himself off from it. It also offered him a good vantage point, letting him watch Bella without actually having to go into the restaurant and pretend to dine there.

She was facing him, which meant that Edward could not see her date. His annoyance at her persistent need to make other people happy showed in the way he clenched his slim fingers around the steering wheel, imprinting against it. A discarded magazine lay beside him on the passenger seat, flicked through many times. It told the many tales of Isabella Hale, who was dating leader of the shapeshifters, Jacob Black. The magazine he had picked wasn't the only one that had been on display in the corner shop; every single cover seemed to show pictures of them holding hands, or cuddling, or - in Bella's case - being carried with laughing faces of fun and frolic.

The more Edward had seen, the more reason he had to believe that Bella might just be thinking about marrying Jake. It felt wrong, spying on them, but a small piece of hope inside his chest had refused to be crushed until it was presented with evidence. It now had its evidence. Edward ground his teeth together as his old friend moved forward to whisper something to Bella. Cameras flashed, showing that their date wasn't as private as the couple probably wanted it to be.

Unable to take anymore of the silent canoodling, Edward climbed from his car and headed to the back of the restaurant. The fire door was ajar, and he slipped into the kitchen easily, becoming part of the hustle and bustle with no one noticing. Grabbing an apron and wine list, he headed out into the dining area. He spotted Bella sitting alone, drumming her fingers against the table in a bored manner. He walked over to her, smiling as he took in her appearance.

Her hair was in ringlets and framed her wide eyes perfectly; one blue, one green just as he remembered. They were outlined faintly in black eyeliner, and a shimmer of glitter told him her eyelids too, had been attacked by makeup. Her lips were formed in a perfect pout, unbeknownst to her, and she was wearing a smart black dress. He'd never seen her look more beautiful, and his heart ached as he remembered it was for another man. There was something about Bella that made him gravitate towards her.

"Have you seen the wine list this evening ma'am?" he asked softly, lowering the menu so she could see it. Her head snapped around immediately as she recognized his voice, and Edward felt a thrill as he saw the way she reacted to his presence, although he longed to _hear_ the silent thoughts behind it. "We have a wide selection," he continued. "I could show you out back."

Bella didn't say anything, watching as Edward made his way to the back of the dining hall. Once Jake had returned, she made her excuses and followed him, careful not to give the reporters anything to embellish in their papers and magazines. They were too busy talking amongst themselves about Cesar's engagement, and the who would get to cover the wedding itself. She smiled, happily moving into the shadows to where Edward was waiting.

"You're back," she cried, throwing her arms around him. He held her carefully, as if he were afraid of hurting her if he held her too tightly, but she didn't care. "Where've you been? I haven't seen you since Tanya convinced me to go out clubbing with her."

"About," Edward answered evasively. "I went back to Prodosia to check on a few affairs of mine. Nothing too serious," he added. He didn't want Bella to know that there had been a planned attack on her father. There was no point in worrying her. "And what about you?" he asked, his eyes flicking to where Jake sat waiting. "What have you been doing while I was gone?"

"Not much," said Bella, equally evasively. Edward smiled as her cheeks flushed pink, giving away her embarrassment. "I've been researching more about the night that Jasper and Alice disappeared. I've found nothing," she added fiercely, glaring at him. "But I'm still planning on heading out to find out more information as soon as all this commotion is over. I need to search for them."

"And there's nothing I can say to stop you?" Edward asked. "Nothing at all? You're just going to go out there and risk your life, trying to find out what happened to your brother and his soulmate."

"That was the plan," Bella said, sticking her bottom lip out decisively. "Is that all you came here to ask me? You came to ask if I will carry on with my insane plan. Because my answer will never change, no matter how many times I'm asked, and no matter who it is that is asking me. And if it's all you wanted, I have a companion to return to."

Edward reached out to clasp her wrist as Bella made to move away. "No, that's not why I'm here. I wanted to see you, that's why I'm here. And I wanted to know for how much longer I would have to keep a look out for you. And it seems that the answer to that question is a lot longer," he finished, a laugh playing in his eyes and around his lips.

Bella's cheeks deepened in their color, and Edward dropped her arm down. "I should return to Jake. He's probably wondering where I am."

"Are you marrying him?"

Bella froze in place, shock tensing her muscles one at a time. She turned to face Edward, expecting to see anger in his eyes, but there wasn't. There was need; a need to know the truth, whatever the cost. She didn't understand it, nor did she understand the need that rose in her chest. The need for him to know the truth. She didn't know why that mattered, because it all amounted to the same thing, but she still _needed_ him to know, and understand, and accept. She watched his face, the calm expressionless mask he had in place, and felt saddened.

"I'm not marrying him. At least, I don't intend to marry him. But the situation may soon call for it. It's a compromise, of sorts. A funny, stupid compromise. I'm not in love with him," she added, watching Edward. "I love him, but I'm not _in_ love with him. It's complicated, but I hope you can understand."

"I don't think I can, Bella, but I can accept your choice." Because being with you is enough, he thought to himself. "You better get back to Jake. He's wondering where you've gotten to, and I don't think it will be good publicity for you if he finds you with me. Don't worry," he said quickly, seeing the expression that crossed her face. "I'm not leaving again. At least, I'm not leaving again anytime soon. I'll see you later, if you want me to."

"Of course I want to see you." Bella smiled, and Edward felt something tug inside his chest, an emotion he had never felt before. It was painful, but in a good way. "I always want to see you, Edward. That will never change."

"I'll see you later then. I need to go and sort matters out for my stay in La Sol. Take good care of my old friend, won't you? It's been so long since I've been able to speak to him," Edward looked past her, to Jake who was stretching in his seat, eyes soft and faraway. Bella nodded, before turning and walking towards him.

Edward watched Bella move between the tables with a strange longing. He hadn't realized how much the absence had affected him until now, and seeing her with Jake drove a pain right through him. He turned, dropping the menu, but keeping the apron. He wasn't going to make the same mistake twice, and he was intent on covering the tracks. The Volturi might be looking for him now, but he was looking for them too.

He climbed into his car and sped off out of the city. He had a few things to take care of.

* * *

Authors' Notes:

**ZM**: :D Hope you guys enjoyed reading the chapter as much as I have. Haven't heard much from you guys, hope your still out there (I know you are haha)! Sorry it took a while to post, I was out of my country for a little while, but back now. Make sure you guys check out our other stories in the mean time to keep you entertained, if you are looking for it!

**LP**: You know that magic is happening when emails start flying between Zaida and me! And wow, did the emails fly for this chapter. Seeing **Eclipse** really ignited my writing desire, and then having this chapter in Edward's POV really made me want to write, and keep writing. It took less than a day, and I'm amazed at that. I'm also excited about the direction we're moving in. So many secrets, so little time!


	10. Night Of Dantum

**Chapter 9 : Night of Dantum**

"That was so – " Bella paused, circling the car that they had just emptied of immortal occupants. "_Strange_," she said, finally settling on the right word.

The car was nothing special. It wasn't even new. Bella wasn't really one for cars and could only tell it was an older modeled Pontiac, a Fiero according to the words on the back, but yet it was still the strangest thing she had witnessed in her life. There it sat innocently in the road on the outskirts of La Sol where the floodwaters could not reach. A trip that had taken up most of the day in order to complete. La Sol was vast after all.

"I told you they wouldn't expect us tonight," Rosalie said joyfully with a popping of her fingers, interrupting Bella's thoughts.

"Yeah, but still - " Bella opened the door and shut it again, still trying to figure out if the car was part of a well thought out prank or not. "This is so strange."

"It's just a car Bells," Jacob laughed.

"A car _vampires_ were driving," she reminded him as he struggled to get into the passenger side of the car they'd commandeered. Bella was so bothered by the car that she didn't even laugh when Jake got wedged somewhere between the outside and inside of the car.

"Would you get out of there?" Rosalie snapped, striding over to Jacob. She pulled him out easily, no damage to either the Quileute or car. "You're too fat to get in there!"

"Hey," he mocked an expression of hurt, "this is all muscle!"

"Over all the fat," Rose mumbled as she slid herself into the passenger's thin side door and began to rummage.

"Do you not think this is odd?" Bella tried to convey her feelings to Jacob once again. "Those two vampires were driving a _car_! Not running along on foot, not hunting on their own, they were driving a_ car_."

"They probably stole it off their victims or something," Jacob said with little interest, his wide shoulders rising and falling in a shrug. "It's not uncommon for vampires to steal from their victims, Bella. No need to worry about it."

"There's no paperwork," Rosalie called to them as she climbed back out of the car. "We'll take it back to the other house and I'll alert the police to its presence. I'll even have them investigate it, if it makes you feel any better Bella. All cars have serial numbers, it won't take too long."

"Fine," Bella sighed. She was glad that Rose was taking some form of action, but she was not comforted by their lack of interest concerning the situation. "We should leave then, if we want to make it back before dark tomorrow."

"I'll take the vampire's car," Rosalie said, walking around to the driver's side where the keys sat in the ignition. "Don't want fatso breaking it."

"When we 're driving, we'll try to remember that you're a little slower than most," he teased back.

She rolled her eyes as they all climbed into their separate cars, not that Jacob could fit much better into the family car. As Bella climbed into the passenger seat, she turned on the screen on the dashboard in front of her, before pressing the green button that had the word _Call _stamped across it. A few seconds later she had typed in the name she wanted. It was only a matter of three rings before Emmett's face was staring back at her from beneath the glass.

"Hey! You're alive," he said as if it were a surprise. "No trip-ups?"

"Your wife was the only one who had any fun," Jacob laughed as he moved from park.

"Yeah," Bella continued with a laugh. "It was the weirdest thing! The vampires were driving a car!"

"Whoa, what," he said in disbelief! "No way!"

"Yeah," Bella said, excited that someone could finally share in her surprise. "They raced us and everything! Vampires can't even communicate with us, yet they – "

"What are you talking about?" Emmett laughed his booming laugh, one that made Bella's cheeks flush a hot red. "Of course vampires can talk!"

"What?" Bella wasn't sure if she'd heard right. "I've never heard one utter a word before."

"Of course they talk," Emmett repeated, more serious this time. "Didn't your brother ever tell you? See, there was this one time; actually it was this time of the year! We were doing Alice's death list – "

"Alice's death list?" Bella repeated in confusion.

"Oh yeah, you were real young huh," Emmett said, before further explaining. "See Alice made this list about the time Jasper left her to protect her, or something – anyway, the list was of all the hideouts where she thought vampires were and we went around exterminating them. We got to this one place and they talked to us! One of them even had special powers! Isn't that cool?"

"No," Bella groaned. "How is that cool?"

"A more challenging fight!"

Bella couldn't take any more of his craziness. "Well, we are stopping at the second home to leave the vampires' car behind, then we are making our way back home for Dantum. I'll see you later."

"Okay, see you there," he replied, a grin still plastered to his face from his memories and Bella's ignorance.

Bella hung up and allowed the throbbing in her brain to take over. She tried to grasp at his words. A_ death list_ made by Alice. Vampires who talked. Vampires that drove cars. Why had no one ever told her? She finally gave up. The only person who could answer her questions would be home when she got there. Her father.

"You alright?" Jacob asked, throwing a concerned look in Bella's direction when the silence went on for too long.

"Yeah, just surprised I guess."

"I thought you knew . . . you know, about them being able to talk and act like us," he said.

"No. No one ever told me."

She let silence slip back between them as the speed monitor pushed past all numbering. They were headed to the second home of the Hale's family, Rosalie's family. It was exactly midpoint between the outskirts and the center of La Sol, and also happened to be where the Guardians kept most of their cars were. Travelling in cars was not very easy in the center of the city after all.

The silence was once again interrupted when Jacob let out a nervous cough, gaining Bella's attention. She looked over him to find that he was watching her with an intensity that made her slightly uncomfortable. Jake didn't want long after gaining her attention to say aloud what was bothering him. "Bella while we are alone . . . I would like to go over something with you," he said softly, his eyes surveying her carefully.

Bella tried to read his expression, and found nothing there. "Tell me," she said.

"That was pointless," Emmett groaned as they exited the cars to continue on foot.

They would be reaching the center soon and the floodwaters would not allow them to travel by car. They would be taking the high roads and bridges, Emmett's favorite way of traveling. He often made it a competition. He would leap from building to building like a monkey. The further the jump, the more points. Of course, whoever could reach the end first got an automatic two hundred points.

"It made me feel better," Rosalie replied to her husband's miserable tone. "All that stress from the wedding planning is now gone! Nothing like a good punch out to relieve stress."

"I thought you had already screamed it all out," he teased. "At all the poor workers. Either way, I didn't see a single vampire. They must know all the Guardians are gathering for the festivities. Asses."

"Well, I hope you don't take that as hard as you are going to take me beating you," Jacob laughed as he began stretching, "_and_ your brother's record!"

"Ha! You're on," he said getting into position. "Baby, you game?"

"Why not?" Rosalie smirked putting on her fingerless gloves. "Bella?"

"Do I have a choice?" she sighed getting into position beside the two men.

"Don't fall," Emmett teased.

"I'll try not to. I wouldn't want to ruin your competition by making you have to rescue me," Bella retorted.

"As is customary, Rosalie will go over the rules," Emmett said in his most official tone of voice.

"There is no stopping unless to save the lives of pedestrians, and no interfering with the other racers or automatic disqualification. No running on paved or dirt roads, unless flooded or automatic disqualification. For every ten minutes spent running on water one hundred points are awarded. For every jump of buildings between twenty and thirty feet, one hundred points, between thirty and forty, one hundred and fifty points, and above forty feet, two hundred points. Style points are awarded according to official referee awarding, but since we do not have one, there will be none. Are there any questions?"

"Yeah, how bad does your husband whine when he loses?" Jacob jeered.

"You're going down dog," Emmett laughed.

"Ready? Go!" Rosalie shouted!

The four of them took of at blurring speeds, and Bella had to admit it was fun. As they raced the next few hours she did good at keeping up. It was funny to hear Emmett's jeers when he was ahead, and his insults when he was slightly behind. It was funny to watch the humans stop and stare at the blurs that hopped from one building roof to another once they reached the taller parts of the city. Rosalie liked the lower area. She would go so fast she was skidding across the waters and running on the sides of buildings when she could no longer keep it up.

In the end, Rosalie won, followed by both Emmett and Jacob fighting over points and who was second, and Bella in a whopping last place. She couldn't get a word in as they argued on the roof of the house, but her eyes caught sight of a strange shadow on the library roof across the waters. A rush of familiarity coursed through her, and she made a split second decision to go over there.

"I'll be back in a minute," she said aloud to whoever might be listening, before making her way towards the library.

She ran through the library to their unofficial meeting place. They had spoken of meeting here the next time they could talk, but that meeting had yet to take place. Once she pushed the doors open she almost forgot about whom she searched for, because the beauty of the room was too much. It had still been under construction since her arrival, it had only finished within the past week. The room had no lighting except for the stars overhead. It was a giant Imax theater. Above her, the stars appeared as real as the ones that came out at night. When she looked below her she saw her own reflection, but within rippling water. She kneeled down to wonder if it was real or an effect, but before she could decide a voice spoke gently in her ear, "Thanks for coming."

She turned to stare into the golden eyes that glowed through the darkness like the stars surrounding them. He gently began to guide her, "This way."

They passed small groups of lovers and admirers that were sprawled across the floor on small blankets or pillows to find their own secluded area.

"This place is amazing," Bella whispered as they sat down against the curved wall where stars burned. "I can't believe I've never been here!"

"It was built in my memory you know," he said.

"Really," she said tearing her eyes away from the stars around her, only to be lost in the flawless face in front of her. She could tell by the pinch of his eyebrows that this place pained him, but it was dark enough that it would be hard to spot him amongst the small crowd. "Do you miss them?" Bella asked quietly, not wanting to offend him.

"I do," he said honestly. "It has been . . . so long. How are they?"

"They are all good," she said. "They miss you too though. It's hard . . . sometimes when your name is mentioned and they all get that look in their eyes . . . it's hard not to feel guilty that I have talked to you and they haven't in so long. All I can do is remind them that you are out there, and that you are alive . . . not like . . . my brother."

"I'm sorry," he breathed out the words and turned his face onto her in pain. "I've never thought about how this could be affecting you. Forgive me."

"It's alright," Bella shrugged. "I only wish I knew what was going on, why you were hiding . . . "

He said nothing allowing the silence to thicken between them as the soft mutter of other people's whispering spoke around them. Bella could hear their private conversations without trying. There was a particular couple speaking of the joys of their upcoming baby, something that had drawn her attention.

"Did you find anything interesting on the outskirts?" Edward asked her suddenly.

"Well," she said, turning her focus back to him. "We ran into vampires that were driving a car. They try to break away from us in it, speeding through the outskirts of the city."

"Oh," his interest was piqued.

"It was a male and female couple," she said. "They were driving some older model sports car, and I found out that vampires actually talk!"

Edward chuckled at the irony of both statements. Once upon a time, he had believed the same thing. He had believed that vampires were only killing monsters, nothing more. Now he knew the truth and much more. However, what really cheered him was that he knew which two vampires she spoke of. He had seen them not too long ago, fighting with Irina over a car rentals. Guess they got that which had been coming to them.

"They speak so fast it's hard to understand them at times," he informed her. "Which is why Guardians often assume that they do not speak at all. They do have abilities that even Guardians don't have."

"So you knew!"

"I believe there are a lot of things about vampires we don't know yet," he said sadly. "They can't exactly be studied. You should never underestimate them, or think something is impossible to them. They could be more like us than we wish to believe, or can even comprehend."

Bella wrapped her arms around her knees as the truth sunk in and made her sick, "My Dad always says that."

_Look,_ Bella overheard someone speak. She looked into the center of the dome ceiling and saw the faint trail of fireworks before one exploded into a fiery assortment of blue and gold. The crowd below, which had thickened suddenly, all for this show, awed in unison. More fireworks followed all around the room above, behind, and beside her. Below the rippling reflection shone just as brightly. They were surrounded by golds, purples, blues, reds, and greens.

"Today we played a game," she carried on the conversation. "Emmett's spectacular, amazing, racing game."

He chuckled as she giggled, "Who won?"

"Rosalie," she laughed. "But don't worry, your record is still unbeaten."

He laughed with her as the lights splashed across their beings. This was the first time she had not felt such tension in their meeting, nor did she have to pull for information. She was, in fact, surprised when he himself went into his own private memories.

"Jasper beat me once you know," he laughed. "He was so fast. He was thirteen at the time, I think."

He went into all his memories of her brother and she listened intently. It was the first time they had spoken of his past in such detail. It was the first time she learned things about Edward from his own mouth, and she even learned more about her brother that she had not known. They were there almost two hours under the fading firelights and stars.

"Did your father tell you about the time Jasper snuck out to go to a concert?" Edward laughed, the sound continuing when Bella shook her head. "He was staying with us. Him, Emmett, and Rosalie were as thick as thieves. Well, they got the bright idea to steal a car and sneak out to the Brig's concert."

"Oh, I love them," Bella interrupted. "Jasper used to play their CD's all day when I was younger. Their music used to scare me when I was little. It wasn't until I was seven did I understand enough to sit in his room and listen with him."

Edward laughed, "Yeah, they have scary voices, but amazing lyrics. I loved them too. I lied to your father. I told him I had collected them from the concert and that I had given them a stern yelling, but the truth was . . . I stayed to listen with them."

"That's too funny," Bella giggled along with him. "How old were they?"

"Jasper was twelve, I think, and I was maybe twenty, perhaps nineteen," he laughed. "Jacob was actually with us too! He was all about the Brig."

"He still is," she said.

"How are things with him?" he asked, the laughter still in his voice.

"He . . ." Bella didn't know why, but she found herself telling him without wanting to, or meaning to. "He asked me to marry him."

"What?" Edward asked confused, but the light laughter was still there. "I thought . . . I thought this was all just a façade to keep your father happy."

"It was - "

"Was," he said and his voice dropped. "So what, you told him yes?"

"I didn't say anything," she sighed, not daring to look him in the eyes.

"Well, you are going to tell him no. Right?" he said.

"I think . . . I am going to accept," she held herself tighter, scared of the explosion she was expecting.

"What?" Edward said in utter disbelief. "But . . . you should want to marry for love! Not convenience! How are you going to marry Jacob or . . . do you . . . do you love him?"

He had not brought himself to fathom such a concept. He had never imagined that his now only friend would fall in love with his old best friend. A pain ripped through his chest like no other as he thought of them together, married, leaving him all alone to fend for himself. The image was vivid in his mind as he turned to face Bella.

"I do, but not like that. He says that he cares for me, and he knows I care for him and I do," she sighed. "He knows - and I know - that is not the type of love people marry for, but he believes that one day it could be. That maybe we could grow to love each other in the right way."

"You can't honestly believe that," he found himself growing angrier at each poor defense she put up before the idea, and he didn't know why. "And even still, what if he finally imprints? What happens to you? Marrying to a Quileute who hasn't imprinted on you is always dangerous."

"He doesn't think he will ever imprint," she had an answer to everything, which only angered Edward further, "his father never did, and he had a happy marriage."

"Yes he did," Edward retorted stubbornly. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "If they do not imprint and find a mate, they cannot die, and last I checked Jacob's father is not around, and Jacob still is, which means his imprint is out there somewhere."

"Jacob's father died in battle Edward," Bella replied softly. She was amazed he could not remember that. Billy Black's death had happened before her birth and even she knew that. A group of vampires had killed him, but it was an honorable death. He had become a legend for it!

"Well," he said desperate to find another excuse. His memory of his friend's father had blurred with becoming a vampire. "What about the aging thing - "

"My grandfather lived to be two hundred and nine years old," she remembered Jacob's reasoning for this when she had put it against him. "If he is to marry me, he says it will make him human enough that he will age at the rate I do - "

"Only if he imprints," he reminded her.

"It's happened before Edward," she informed him.

"This is crazy," he scoffed. "I can't believe you are even considering this!"

"With him I'll have everything I need." She had to clench her fist to keep from screaming. "My father will be pleased and the city will be too. It will help my family's name, and he will support me in my search to find Jasper and Alice. He will be my guardian and Tanya will be free to live out her own life if she chooses. This is the best way - "

"No! This is the coward's way out," Edward said slowly, dragging out the hatred behind the words. He took pleasure in the way Bella flinched at the word _coward_. "You're weak, Bella, and you can't handle confrontation. You're hiding from it, by marrying a man you do not love."

Bella stood up, glaring down. "I am heir to the Hale's thrown in the Eastern Quadrant. I am the protector of the people, the night's guardian. I cannot be selfish, because what I do does not affect only my family, but my people and me. This isn't about just me, this is about my people. Jacob gave me until tonight to decide, and when he proposes to me before my family, I will let my decision be known. I will accept Edward."

She turned walking over the rippling stars and between those who were only there to admire the beauty, and he let her go, a mixture of anger, sadness and pain wrapping around his chest.

"There you are Bella," Tanya found her outside the library once she stepped into the bright sun. "I need your help."

"What's wrong?"

"I need to take Leah down," she seethed. "I can't have her taking over our home! Over my brother! She doesn't love him - "

"Tanya," Bella sighed. "I love you."

"I love you too? But what has this got to do with Leah?"

"I love you, but I can't watch you try and take down Leah. You have to let your personal feelings go," Bella said in a reasonable tone, watching her expression carefully. "It's the Night of Dantum. Can't we just focus on that for now, and forget everything else?"

"Fine," Tanya said, the bitterness still in her voice. For a moment, Bella thought that she was going to do what she had suggested, but then Tanya's expression hardened. "Don't help me! I don't need you anyway! I can do this all on my own. I'll fix things, just you see!"

"Tanya, please!" Bella shouted after Tanya's retreating back, but the other woman simply sprinted off into the distance.

Bella groaned walking into the house and was surprised with her ambush of hugs.

"Bella!"

"Mom," she laughed, glad to see her face.

"Oh baby," she laughed her chime-like laughter. "I've missed you. So tell me all about Jacob."

"Mom," she laughed. "Don't you read the tabloids?"

"Well, if I believed everything the tabloids said, your cousin Rosalie would have had five kids by now, and two weddings, and you would have been dating the pop star Leo," she teased.

"I'll tell you everything later Mom, I want to speak with Dad. Where is he?" she asked.

"In Cesar's study," she said. "Come, I'll take you."

Her mother dragged her along as she filled her in on how empty the house felt and how bored she had been until they knocked on Cesar's door.

"Yes," Cesar's voice said from the other side of the door.

"Sorry to interrupt, but my daughter needs to speak with my husband."

There was a pause before the door opened and Cesar stepped through, "Right this way Bella, sorry for stealing him. Esme, what do you say about visiting my fiancé? She would love your opinion on something."

"Okay," she said, taking his arm and they left.

"Dad," Bella said pushing the door open.

"Yes Bella," he said from over a map. "How can I help you?"

"I wanted to talk to you about something," she said shutting the door behind her.

"About what?"

"Alice," she said.

That did it. She had his full attention and in a moment the map was rolled up and put away. "What exactly about her?"

"Well, today Emmett said something that I did not understand. He said something about Alice and a 'death list', and he also said that vampires could . . . speak. It got me thinking that there is so much about Alice that I do not know or understand. Or about vampires - "

"Well, you are not going to be a Guardian, so why do you need to know about vampires - " He started with the offensive, trying to cut down Bella's curious questions before they were asked.

"Because even if I am not, they won't go away," she shouted, and then calmed herself. "And Alice's memory will not either."

Her father sighed and took a seat behind the desk. "Bella sit."

She did as he said and he began. "That . . . 'death list' as Emmett so elegantly dubbed it was a list of abandoned homes, warehouses, and such that Alice listed for your brother. She believed those places to house vampires, groups of them in larger numbers then I ever believed possible. I have never seen more than three in a group. Your brother checked it out and found them all to have vampires living right under our noses! I couldn't believe that she had known about such things and I asked her how she had. She replied that they were guesses. They were creepy places all civilians knew to avoid and I believed her, it wasn't until their disappearance that I thought more."

He sighed, running his hands through his hair. This was the first time Bella could see the age showing through his still young features. "I searched for answers Bella, for any clue to find your brother or Alice, but all I knew about her was that she was a mystery. She was born in Jacob's quadrant according to the investigation me and your brother both did at separate times, but there is no trace of her there. She had eyes that always changed color, and I thought it must be some new age contact lenses, but I have found no such thing exists. No one at her school knew anything about her, even her teachers knew little of her. "

"Well, what about vampires talking?" she asked. "I've never heard one speak. Even when," she had to take a deep breath to continue, "Even when the vampire that kidnapped Alice that night came into my room, he didn't speak. He simply covered my mouth from screaming and . . . and handed me the book opened and pointed. He didn't even say anything to Alice - "

"Maybe he did speak to her," her father said looking past her to things she could not see. "Maybe you could just not understand or hear."

"Then she wouldn't have been able to," Bella countered.

"Unless she was more than human," he responded.

"What do you mean?" Bella asked.

"It was a strange time Bella," he rubbed his temples. "Vampires were catching disease, leaving them charred and black. They were bleeding like humans. It was almost as if they were turning human again, but something from within was killing them and driving them insane. They were screaming for blood; Jasper even told me they spoke to each other and called each other by names. We found out they were living in close quarters to humans and in larger groups than three . . . all I know is that there is more to them than we believe. They can communicate and cooperate and even seem to have special powers from what my research has found. I think they are a much bigger threat than we can imagine. With all this, why can't Alice be more than what we believe?"

Chills crept along Bella's arm as he looked at her gravely, and she realized maybe Edward was onto this. Maybe Alice knew more than she let anyone believe. Maybe that was the reason why Jasper disappeared. Maybe they had run away from some unseen threat that none of the other Guardians could even begin to imagine.

"Go get ready for dinner baby. It's Dantum," he reminded her. "It's time to celebrate, not grieve in the past."

She left the room silently and returned to her room to shower and change for the evening's festivities, but she did not feel festive. There was a shadow upon her the entire time. A shadow of fear and dread. There was something more to what little she knew, and she felt unprepared for what the future might hold. As she left her bathroom, she did not miss the small folded paper on her bed.

_Bella,_

_Forgive me for my reaction earlier. I was wrong for calling you weak. It takes a strong person to be selfless and do what is right for their people and family, instead of doing what their heart wishes. The reason you are doing this is not much different from the reason I do what I do. I support you, no matter what you choose to do._

_ Sincerely,_

_ Your friend_

_P.S. Look at the other note_

Bella looked around to see another note on the balcony door's window. She rushed over to read a simple sentence.

_Bella give these to my family._

_Edward_

She opened the doors to see four small bags sitting on the ground and picked them up. Words could not describe her joy as she rushed down the stairs to join her family for dinner. It stayed with her as she ate dinner and while she performed the lighting ceremony to commence Dantum at midnight. She opened her first gift, hardly looking at it. She was too excited to give out her gifts.

"Emmett, Rose, J.C," she called them over. "These are for you!"

"Thank you Bella," Rosalie said taking the four bags.

"Only one is from me," she said. "The rest are from your brother."

"Edward," Emmett asked breathlessly.

She nodded and instantly was smothered in their hugs. They didn't bother asking how, or why, only for the note that she found in her room. They knew, well believed they knew, that she knew nothing. She wandered over to her parents who, she noticed, were not accompanied by Tanya.

"Where is Tanya?" she asked.

"Poor thing," Esme sighed. "She didn't want to spend Dantum with us."

"Oh," Bella said sadly, as they unwrapped their presents.

She wished she could make Tanya understand that there was nothing wrong with Leah. She was nice and if she had imprinted, there was no chance that she was after advancement in her position in the world, or money. Just love.

"Thank you," she told Leah.

"Jacob suggested it," Cesar said from beside Leah, his arm forever wrapped around her.

"He said you love to read," Leah said.

"Excuse me, excuse me," Jacob called. "Can I have everyone's attention?"

How had she forgotten this part of the night? She could feel the nerves working their way into frenzy throughout her body as he stood up and everyone sat down to look at him. "I have one final gift for Bella."

She could feel her heart throbbing within her, but she knew what she must do. She put on the perfect smile as everyone began to glow with excitement. Leah was next to her, and her mother on the other, each excited and then Bella knew the truth; she was the only one that this gift was supposed to _surprise_. She felt thankful that Jake had prepared her.

Jacob walked over and kneeled down on his knees, pulling out the box and handing it to her. The smile never faltered on her face despite the storm raging in her stomach. Where had this doubt come from? _Edward_, she thought in response, before slowly opening the box. Right then she wanted nothing more than for the show to be over and to be back in her bed, alone, where she could sleep away this nightmare. In the box was a giant, princess cut diamond ring. Amazingly beautiful.

_ It takes a strong person to be selfless and do what is right for their people and family, instead of doing what their heart wishes._

She looked to see Jacob holding his heart and his head down, trying to make it less awkward for her. "Bella, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

_I support you, no matter what you chose to do._

Even though his words had made her doubt, in the end they made her choose the right path. He would support her, no matter what, and that was all she could ask for. "Yes," Bella murmured, a swooping sensation flitting through her stomach.

Jacob's head shot upward to gaze into her eyes in joyful disbelief, as everyone around them cheered. She could see all their happy faces as he hugged her. Her father beamed proudly from beside their mother, who was standing, her face buried in his chest with joyful tears. Cesar and Leah clapped happily; glad to share the joy of love with another couple. Emmett threw his head back in delight and laughter as he slapped Jacob in the back. She was the only one dying inside, images of another man dancing in her mind. Leah's own mother and sibling Seth were even cheering, their father having long since passed.

Leah approached Bella as her father poured her congratulatory champagne, "Bella, me and Cesar would be honored if you and my Chief were to marry along with us. A double wedding."

"Oh, say yes," Rosalie chimed in. "It will be the grandest event in the history of weddings, minus mine!"

"Thank you," she said graciously. "We would be honored."

This caused more celebration and it wasn't until dawn was she able to tear away from them in order to be herself. She was surprised to find a guest lounging in one of chairs.

"Edward," she whispered.

He didn't say anything, but instead stood and handed her a small box. "I wanted to give you this gift. It belongs to you, now that Alice is no longer with us."

He didn't bother her with the details that she had left it for him only nights before she and Jasper disappeared. "Just know that your parents will forgive you if you change you mind."

"What do you mean?" she asked, but he was gone before the words were free from her mouth.

She ran after him as far as the balcony's edge, but he had disappeared. She knew what he meant. He meant her plans to wed. She opened the worn, obligated box and almost cried when she saw the necklace, but she couldn't allow the tears to fall. It was a beautiful chocker made of soft ribbon with a pendant of her family crest. It had been in their family for centuries. It was a wedding present made by a great grandfather for a great grandmother.

"Jasper gave this to Alice," she remembered. "She always wore it."

* * *

**Sorry it took so long! Thanks for the support and thanks to Linkkinparkk for Betaing! **


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